Do bananas have seeds?

Banana is one of people's favorite fruits, which has the reputation of "happy fruit" and "fruit of wisdom". But unlike apples, pears, oranges and other fruits, bananas have obvious seeds, but they have never been seen in bananas. Many people think that bananas have no seeds at all, but they are not. Let's take a look at whether bananas have seeds at all.

Do bananas have seeds?

Bananas have seeds. There are many small black spots like sesame seeds hidden in the flesh of bananas. Everyone thinks they are seeds, but in fact they are just the skins of seeds. Where is the real seed? In fact, bananas originally have seeds, but after continuous artificial improvement, female flowers are unable to conceive and bear seeds, leaving only seed coats in the pulp, but granular seeds can still be found in wild banana fruits.

Where are the banana seeds?

The earliest bananas in the world not only had seeds, but also had many and large seeds with little pulp. Later, after long-term artificial cultivation, bananas with few fruits and more seeds were eliminated, leaving those with fewer seeds and more fruits. After long-term cultivation and improvement, bananas are now formed: seeds degenerate, fruits become more, sweetness increases and fragrance is strong. Bite open the banana and you will find rows of brown dots on the cross section, which are the degraded seeds. People who don't know the history of bananas think that bananas are childless.

How do bananas reproduce?

As the seeds of artificially cultivated bananas have been degraded and cannot be propagated with seeds, how do bananas reproduce? Now let's take a look at the breeding methods of bananas.

1. Sucking bud propagation of banana

Sucking bud propagation is a common method of raising seedlings in banana cultivation. It is mainly propagated with sword sprouts (red bamboo shoots) and garments. The plantlets and buds used as seedlings are generally more than 40 cm high.

① red bamboo shoots: the head is big and the tail is small, shaped like bamboo shoots and swords, so it is also called sword bud. It generally grows in November of the previous year, when the weather turns warm after the Beginning of Spring, it is exposed to the ground, showing red, which is usually used when planting in March, April and May of that year. It is characterized by the emergence of leaves before the growth of roots after planting.

② jacket bud: the jacket bud generally grows in August, September and October of the previous year. Due to drought, the cold is not long, and the leaves become withered when winter comes. Due to low temperature, lack of water, slow growth in the upper part and accumulation of nutrients in the lower part, the nutrients are sufficient, the shape is small and the bottom is large, and there are many roots, which are generally used when planting in February and March. After planting, it is first to root, then to draw leaves.

2. Propagation of banana tuber

Tuber propagation is mainly used to cultivate a large number of buds in a short period of time. Using plants that have not yet blossomed or underground stems with large sucking buds (sprouting from October to November) as materials, the best time to cut into pieces is from November to January of the following year, most of them can germinate, and the seedlings in April, May and June can be planted with a height of 40cm to 50cm. The advantage of this propagation method is that it can reduce diseases and insect pests, the survival rate is high, the growth is neat, and the initial plant is shorter than sucking bud propagation, and it is more resistant to wind, but it has the disadvantage of low yield of the first generation.

The method of underground stem cutting and propagation is as follows: first cut off the underground plant, dig up the tuber, leave the false stem 12cm to 15cm high, and then cut the tuber into small pieces, each weighing more than 120g, with a sturdy bud hole on the top, and then coated with plant ash for antiseptic. then, according to the row spacing of 15 cm, the cut pieces are placed flat on the border, the bud eyes are facing up, and then covered with soil and grass for fertilization management. The sprouts should be sprayed with Bordeaux solution twice continuously one week before coming out of the nursery to prevent leaf spot. If the top of the bundle disease vaccine is found, it should be removed in time and disinfected with lime to prevent infection. Where nematode damage is severely punished, scrape off the black skin of the underground stem beforehand, soak it in hot water of 54-55 ℃ (or 5% formaldehyde) for 20 minutes, kill the nematode, and then raise seedlings.

3. Separate plant propagation of banana.

The conventional propagation of banana mainly uses sucking buds for ramet propagation. When the sucking bud grows to more than 40 cm, it can split and be used as the mother plant of the next generation or as a seedling. When ramet, the soil next to the sucking bud should be dug up first, and then cut with a shovel between the mother plant and the sucking bud. After the seedlings are dug out, cut off the excessively long and injured roots, dry the incisions in the shade or smear them with plant ash before they can be planted.

4. Banana tissue culture

Tissue culture and rapid propagation technology is often used in banana seedling production for large-scale planting, which can not only obtain a large number of test-tube plantlets in a short period of time, but also remove viruses such as mosaic disease, which is beneficial to increase yield.

① explant disinfection and primary culture: during operation, the mother plant with strong growth, neat hanging fruit and high yield was selected in the banana planting area without traditional diseases, and the sucking buds just exposed to the ground were dug as induction materials. When disinfecting, peel off the leaf sheath outside the sucking bud and rinse it with water. Disinfect it with 75% alcohol solution for 30 seconds, then disinfect it with 0.1% HgCl2 for 20 minutes, then rinse the stem tip with sterile water for 8 times, cut the stem tip into two parts, put it in the induction medium of MS+3~6 mg / L BA+ sugar 3% + Agar 7.0g / L, put it in a dark light incubator, keep the temperature 28 ℃ 30 ℃, and culture for 40 min for 50 days.

Subculture of ② clustered buds: the clustered buds obtained from primary culture can be subcultured in the medium of MS+3~6 mg / L BA+0.2 mg / L NAA+ sugar 3% + Agar 7.0g / L, and can be subcultured once after 20 days in 280mg / L ℃ and 1500lx light environment, and the proliferation rate of 2.0mg / L can be obtained. There should be sufficient light in the process of culture, and the light time of 1500lx should be not less than 8 hours per day. If there is no light or insufficient light, the color of its pseudostem and petiole will fade, turn green, or even turn white, affecting the proliferation rate. The subculture generally does not exceed 12 generations, otherwise it is easy to cause mutation.