Promising High-Yielding Tetraploid Plantain-Bred Hybrids in West Africa

Figure 2

Development of primary tetraploid (4x) “FHIA 21” by FHIA, Honduras, which was, after further multilocation testing in West Africa, released as a new cultivar in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, as well as named “Apem hemaa” in Ghana. Its male diploid (2x) banana parent ensued after three cycles of phenotypic recurrent selection (C_i) at 2x ploidy level in Honduras with a germplasm influx from “Pisang jari buaya” in C₃ and interploidy crossing with triploid (3x) plantain AVP-67 (code for a plantain grown in Honduras and available at FHIA genebank). Source for pedigrees of 2x bananas in C_i: [25]. Although the year for each activity was unavailable, the timeframe from crossing (C₀) in Honduras to release of FHIA 21 for worldwide distribution was about 30 years.