ICAR-NRCB

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

CROP IMPROVEMENT

There are two types of planting materials:

Commercially, Robusta, Dwarf Cavendish, Poovan, Rasthali, Monthan, Karpuravalli, Nendran and Ney Poovan are cultivated in various states of India.
The varieties like Matti, Rajapuri, Pacha Nadan, Virupakshi are some of the varieties of local significance.

PLANT SELECTION

There are two types of planting materials:

The commonly used propagation material is sucker or corms. The sucker should be a sword sucker, with narrow leaves of 3 to 4 months old, weighing 1.5 to 2 kg. The suckers should be of uniform size, selected from disease-free plantations.
Recently tissue-cultured plants are becoming popular due to their disease-free nature and high yield potential. An ideal tissue culture plant should be about 25-30 cm height with 5 to 6 developed leaves having proper orientation. The leaves should not exhibit any malformation and chlorotic streaks.

If the planting material is a sucker, the roots should be trimmed and pared-off all tissues on the surface to make it free of nematode infestations. The pared corm should be dipped in a solution containing 0.5% Monocrotophos for 30 minutes. Alternatively, application of 40g of Carbofuran in the soil at planting. For tissue culture plants, especially Robusta and Cavendish varieties should be applied with 10g Carbofuran and drenched with 0.1% Emisan to control nematodes and bacterial rot disease respectively in the polybag itself before planting.

Yes, tissue culture plants are high yielding and healthy as they are multiplied from high yielding mother plants free from viruses. The plants are also free from soil-borne pests and diseases like wilt, Erwinia rot, and nematodes at the time of planting.

Yes, tissue culture plants can be economically ratooned for 2 crops.

Yes, they are as good as original tissue culture plants in respect of high yielding ability. But they are not free from viruses and soil-borne diseases and pests.

No, commercial multiplication is not being done at NRCB. We supply only samples to interested growers at no cost and mother cultures to institutions at nominal rates depending upon availability and demand.

If sufficient care is not taken in the multiplication stage, the tissue culture plants may undergo mutation and result in off-types. The permissible limit for off-types as per the DBT guidelines is less than 5%. So, the quality of planting material is very important and should be purchased from reputed companies.

Bananas can be propagated commercially through suckers (whole corms) and also through secondary hardened tissue-cultured plants.

Yes, depending on the variety, the ideal size and weight of the corm differ. By planting the correct/ideal sized corm, we can ensure early flowering and better fruit yield in bananas.

Select ‘Sword Suckers’ with broad corm with narrow sword-like leaves, from viral, fungal, and bacterial disease-free mother plants.
The suckers should be 3-5 months old, uniform in size, weighing 1-1.5 kg for Nendran, Rasthali, Ney Poovan, and Poovan banana varieties.
For long-duration varieties like Karpuravalli and Red Banana, slightly bigger suckers weighing 1.5-2.0 kg should be used.

For planting of ‘Tissue Culture’ plants, the secondary hardened plant should be about 30 cm tall, 5 cm girth with at least five fully opened healthy leaves and true to type. The randomly selected plants should have white and fleshy roots without any lesions or knots in the roots.

The selected suckers should be ‘pared’ by trimming of all the roots along with surface layers superficially to remove any rotten portion of the corm. Dip the pared suckers in 0.2% Carbendazim (2g/litre of water) solution for about 15 – 20 minutes as a prophylactic measure against Fusarium wilt disease.
Keep the treated suckers in shade overnight before planting. Plant the suckers in the center of the pit and press the soil around the suckers firmly.
In order to protect the plants from nematode attack or corm weevil attack, apply 40 g of Carbofuron granules per pit and irrigate the field thoroughly.

In the case of tissue-culture plants, two days before planting apply 10 g of Carbofuron and 1.0% bleaching powder or 100 ml of 0.2% Emissan solution as drench into the polythene bags to protect the plants against nematode infestation and bacterial rot (Erwinia Rot) disease respectively.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

CROP IMPROVEMENT

PLANT SELECTION

Accessibility Options

Display

Quick Menu

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

CROP IMPROVEMENT

1. What are the commercial varieties of Banana grown in India?

PLANT SELECTION

1. How to select a planting material?

2. What are the precautions to be taken at the time of planting?

3. Are tissue culture plants better than suckers?

4. Can we go for ratooning of tissue culture plants?

5. Are suckers from tissue culture plants as good as original tissue culture plants?

6. Can we get tissue culture plants for planting one acre or more from NRCB?

7. What is the reason for non-flowering of the tissue culture plants, sometimes?

8. How to do commercial propagation of bananas?

9. Is the corm size suitable for planting differs from variety to variety?

10. What is the ideal planting material (suckers) to be selected for planting? What should be the age and normal weight of the corms suitable for planting?

11. How to select the ideal tissue culture planting material for planting?

12. How to give the quarantine treatments for the selected suckers before planting?

13. How to give the quarantine treatments for the tissue-cultured banana plants?