Gros Michel banana
| Musa acuminata 'Gros Michel' | |
|---|---|
| Species | Musa acuminata |
| Cultivar group | AAA Group |
| Cultivar | 'Gros Michel' |
| Origin | Martinique, Jamaica[1] |
Gros Michel, often known as Big Mike, is an export cultivar of banana and was, until the 1950s, the main variety exported to the United States.[2]
Taxonomy
Gros Michel is a triploid cultivar of the wild banana Musa acuminata, belonging to the AAA group.[3]
Its official designation is Musa acuminata (AAA Group) 'Gros Michel'.
Synonyms include:
- Musa acuminata L. cv. 'Gros Michel'
- Musa × paradisiaca L. cv. 'Gros Michel'
Gros Michel is known as Guineo Gigante, Banano, and Plátano Roatán in Spanish. It is also known as Pisang Ambon in Malaysia and Indonesia, Thihmwe in Burma, and Kluai hom thong in Thailand.[3]
Description
French naturalist Nicolas Baudin carried a few corms of this banana from Southeast Asia, depositing them at a botanical garden on the Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1835, French botanist Jean François Pouyat carried Baudin's fruit from Martinique to Jamaica.[4]
This variety was once the dominant export banana to Europe and North America, grown in Central America, but in the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, wiped out vast tracts of ‘Gros Michel’ plantations in Central America, though it is still grown on non-infected land throughout the region.[5]
By the 1960s, the exporters of Gros Michel bananas were unable to keep trading such a susceptible cultivar, and started growing resistant cultivars belonging to the Cavendish subgroup (another Musa acuminata AAA).[5]
The original 'Gros Michel' variety is a top export for producing countries in Malaysia and Thailand, with the grade A bananas being exported to Japan, and increasingly to China.[citation needed]
There is an urban myth that artificial banana flavour tastes "fake" because it was intended to mimic the flavour of the 'Gros Michel' and not the Cavendish banana. However, there is no evidence that this is true. [6]
Desert Breeding
The Honduras Foundation for Agricultural Research set out to breed Panama Disease resistant 'Gros Michel' bananas, and after initial problems due to poor agronomic characteristics of the plants from which the pollen was taken (male parent), they developed an improved diploid (SH-3142) which served as the male parent for the development of various hybrids (FHIA-01, FHIA-18, FHIA-21 and FHIA-250). The hybrids released so far have good bunch and agronomic characteristics, are resistant or tolerant to Fusarium wilt and are being grown in a wide range of agro-ecological conditions in Africa, Latin America and Australia.[7]
Cultural references
"Yes! We Have No Bananas", a novelty song from the 1922 Broadway revue Make It Snappy, is said to have been inspired by a shortage of Gros Michel bananas, which began with the infestation of Panama disease early in the 20th century.[8]
The "six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch" mentioned in "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" are most probably 'Gros Michel' bunches, as these were the bananas produced in Jamaica at the time the song was composed and the bunches can grow to that size.
See also
- Banana cultivar groups
- Grand Nain (Chiquita banana)
- Banana breeding impeded by triploidy
- Cooking plantain
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived February 21, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
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