PRODUCTION OF BBTV-FREE PLANTS BY MICROPROPAGATION AND MACROPROPAGATION IN KISANGANI, DR CONGO

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The morphological diversity of plantain in the Democratic Republic of Congo

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. This work focused on the morphological characterization of plantain cultivars collected in the period 2005–2014 in 280 villages across 9 provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These cultivars were established in two field collections at the University of Kisangani.Existing descriptors were adapted to better differentiate their variation to address better the taxonomic handicap and the synonymy handicap to improve future research on plantains.Most of the collected cultivars were French plantains (64 out of 98), followed by False Horn (23) and Horn (10) plantains. The bunch type was the main striking difference which allows the quick separation of plantain cultivars into three main types. Other striking differences within plantain were the size of the pseudostem (giant, medium-sized and small-sized) and the bunch orientation (which was generally pendulous or sub-horizontal, and rarely horizontal and erect). These three descriptors were considered as main descriptors. Other descriptors (pseudostem colour, immature fruit peel colour, fruit shape, fruit apex, fruit position, number of hands, fruit size, number of fingers per hand and flower relicts at the fruit apex) allowed the differentiation of one cultivar from another within the same main group of bunch type, pseudostem size or bunch orientation. These descriptors are considered as secondary descriptors. Rare descriptors allowed to differentiate one cultivar from all the others in the subgroup. This approach makes the cultivar description logical and faster because it moves from general to particular characteristics, and it offers a platform for reflections on the Pan-African scale of plantain diversitystatus: publishe

Plantain diversity in the Democratic Republic of Congo and future prospects

© 2018 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is the largest centre of diversity for plantain (Musa AAB subgroup). In the the 1940s and 1950s descriptions of a collection of 56 accessions at Yangambi (INERA ex INEAC) were published. Between 2005 and 2015, new collection missions covering 306 villages of DR Congo gave morphological descriptors of 107 cultivars, which were established in two fields at the University of Kisangani (UNIKIS). Ninety-seven of these cultivars are completely characterized and grouped into French (64 accessions), False Horn (23 accessions) and Horn (10 accessions) types. Three plant size categories were distinct in the French plantain accessions (24 giant, 22 medium and 12 small) but less obvious within the False Horn and Horn accessions. A similar proportion between the three bunch types was found for dwarfism. The dominant bunch orientation was pendulous (71% of all accessions). Different colours of pseudostem (green, dark green, mottled red and black) and of immature fruit peel (brown, dark green, green, red and yellow) were recorded, green being predominant. The collected cultivars will be further characterized for their agronomic and postharvest performance, used in breeding and characterized at the molecular level.status: publishe

The complex distribution of plantain cultivars (Musa sp., AAB subgroup) in the Bas-Uele province of the Democratic Republic of Congo

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