sbp
01-16-2003, 10:52 PM
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,166529,00.html
LONDON - It is one of the world's favourite fruits, but the banana hasn't had sex in years and its days may be numbered.
Without scientific help, the sterile, seedless fruit could disappear within 10 years, according to a Belgian plant pathologist.
International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain head Emile Frison said the fruit lacks the genetic diversity needed to combat diseases and pests.
Only biotechnology and genetic manipulation may be able to save it, New Scientist said on Wednesday.
The fruit is a genetically decrepit sterile mutant. Among the world's oldest crops, the first edible variety was bred 10,000 years ago from a rare mutant of the virtually inedible wild banana.
Because all are effectively clones of that first plant, they cannot evolve to fight new diseases, said The Telegraph.
Black sigatoka, a fungal disease that cuts yields by up to three quarters and reduces the productive lives of banana plants from 30 to only two or three years, has become a global epidemic.
Without help, production could drop and mark the beginning of the end of the fruit. 'We may even see the extinction of the banana,' New Scientist added.
more in-depth: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/01/16/Consumers/bananas_030116
LONDON - It is one of the world's favourite fruits, but the banana hasn't had sex in years and its days may be numbered.
Without scientific help, the sterile, seedless fruit could disappear within 10 years, according to a Belgian plant pathologist.
International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain head Emile Frison said the fruit lacks the genetic diversity needed to combat diseases and pests.
Only biotechnology and genetic manipulation may be able to save it, New Scientist said on Wednesday.
The fruit is a genetically decrepit sterile mutant. Among the world's oldest crops, the first edible variety was bred 10,000 years ago from a rare mutant of the virtually inedible wild banana.
Because all are effectively clones of that first plant, they cannot evolve to fight new diseases, said The Telegraph.
Black sigatoka, a fungal disease that cuts yields by up to three quarters and reduces the productive lives of banana plants from 30 to only two or three years, has become a global epidemic.
Without help, production could drop and mark the beginning of the end of the fruit. 'We may even see the extinction of the banana,' New Scientist added.
more in-depth: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/01/16/Consumers/bananas_030116