Seedless bananas reproduce exclusively through cloning.
Unlike seeded fruits that rely on pollination and seed dispersal, seedless bananas, such as the widely consumed Cavendish variety, have been bred to be sterile and cannot produce viable seeds. Their reproduction depends entirely on human intervention or natural vegetative means. The primary method they reproduce by cloning, specifically through growing new shoots at the base of the parent plant.
The Cloning Process: Suckers
The reference states, "They can only reproduce by cloning, that is, by growing new shoots at the base of the parent plant and those new shoots take over once the parent plant has flowered and produced a stalk of bananas."
This process involves:
- Parent Plant Growth: A parent banana plant (which is technically a giant herb, not a tree) grows, produces leaves, and eventually flowers, forming a stalk of bananas.
- Sucker Development: While the parent plant is growing and producing fruit, it also develops underground structures called rhizomes. These rhizomes produce side shoots known as "suckers" or "pups" at the base of the plant.
- New Plant Formation: Each sucker is a genetic clone of the parent plant. These suckers draw nutrients from the parent and the soil.
- Taking Over: Once the parent plant has finished fruiting (the main stem dies back after producing one bunch of bananas), the suckers continue to grow. One or more of the suckers are typically selected to grow into the next main fruiting plant, effectively "taking over" from the parent.
Why Cloning is Necessary for Seedless Varieties
Seedless bananas are triploid, meaning they have three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. This genetic makeup makes them sterile and unable to produce functional seeds. Therefore, they cannot reproduce sexually. Vegetative reproduction, or cloning, is the only way to propagate these desired seedless varieties, ensuring that the new plants are genetically identical to the parent and will produce the same type of seedless fruit.
Methods of Cloning
- Using Suckers: This is the most traditional and common method used by farmers. Select suckers are separated from the parent plant and replanted.
- Tissue Culture (Micropropagation): This laboratory method involves growing new plants from small pieces of banana plant tissue in a sterile environment. This allows for rapid mass production of disease-free clones and is increasingly used commercially.
Both methods result in new plants that are genetically identical to the parent, continuing the lineage of seedless bananas.
