Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2) Continuous growth ending in flowering (e.g. Bananas and Plantains,
Pineapple)
B) Branched (poliaxial) species in which:
1) Floral development is concurrent in time and place with extension growth
(e.g. Passion fruit).
2) Floral development is separated from extension growth in:
2.1 Different places:
2.1.1 Cauliflory habit [e.g. Durian, Jaboticaba (
Mirciaria cauliflora
Berg)]
2.1.2 Shoot dimorphism (e.g. Carambola, Avocado)
2.2 Time:
2.2.1 Asynchronous growth rhythm [e.g. Sapodilla (
Manilkara zapota
Van Boyen)]
2.2.2 Synchronous growth rhythm (e.g. Mango, Litchi)
Further division can be undertaken in the last category (2.2.2) where the mango can
be separated from the litchi and other similar plants due to the peculiar problems of
erratic growth which occurs when mangoes are cultivated under tropical conditions
and also due to the potential of mango to produce, under subtropical conditions, a
second flowering in the same year after eliminating the first flowering wave.
Due to this different growth behaviour of monoaxial and polyaxial species, dif-
ferent case studies covering some of the main tropical and subtropical fruits, i.e.
bananas and papayas (monoaxials) and avocado, cherimoya (
Annona cherimola
Mill.) and mango (polyaxials) are treated separately regarding their edaphoclimatic
requirements for production and crop management, making special emphasis in re-
productive biology, a key factor on the adaptation of tropical and subtropical fruits
to different environmental conditions.
Banana
Bananas (Fig.
5.1
) belong to the genus
Musa
of the Musaceae family in the mono-
cot order Zingiberales. The genus
Musa
is divided in 5 sections, one of which, the
Eumusa Section, includes the two wild, seeded species,
Musa acuminata
Colla (A
genome) and
Musa balbisiana
Colla (B genome), native to southeast Asia, which
gave origin to most modern edible bananas. Plantains and other cooking banan-
as are hybrids with different degrees of ploidy of the two
Musa
species indicated
above, although some hybrids gave rise to dessert bananas. Over many years, vari-
ous inedible diploid subspecies of
M. acuminata
crossed naturally resulting in the
production of numerous intraspecific hybrids that could be propagated vegetatively
by suckers that were selected by local inhabitants. Commercial banana dessert cul-
tivars are parthenocarpic and female sterile triploids (AAA) of
M. acuminata,
with
95 % of the total exports of bananas belonging to the
Cavendish
subgroup. Other
speciality or exotic bananas, such as the red-coloured types as well as the 'apple
