Male Fertility in Uganda Banana Germplasm

Identification of fertility levels in banana germplasm collection at Kabanyolo, Uganda, was conducted by dehiscing the anthers using a glass rod. The study involved 151 accessions. The quantity of pollen grains per anther was ranked 0-5; where 0 had no grains and 5 had abundant pollen grains. A correlation between pollen output and inflorescence characters revealed a positive relationship (r = 0.69, P ≤ 0.01) to inflorescence diagnostic characters. A quantitative determination of pollen output per anther and percentage pollen viability based on starch test using the Heamocytometer method revealed that the amount of starch filled grains did not proportionally vary with the total pollen output. Pollen output varied from cultivar to cultivar. Most East African highland banana cultivars were found to have more pollen than the recently introduced banana cultivars. A few highland banana cultivars were non-polleniferous. The results indicate the relative potential of using various cultivars in hybridization and, anther and pollen culture programmes.Keywords: Bananas, Heamocytometer, fertility, pollen