4 ms·

The southern part of India, where I'm from, has many varieties of bananas which aren't available if you travel a couple of hundred kilometers up north. One part

by Karupan 10y ago

The southern part of India, where I'm from, has many varieties of bananas which aren't available if you travel a couple of hundred kilometers up north. One particular variety, which is locally called "Matti" is very small, but is the sweetest banana I've eaten. Always wonder why its availability isn't widespread!

m_eiman 10y ago
Always wonder why its availability isn't widespread! As a guess, it doesn't transport as well as Cavendish: ripens too quickly, gets brown spots too easily.
- Karupan 10y ago
  True that. I remember when I got a bunch for a 12 hour trip and it was basically gooey by the time I got to the destination.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dragonmum 10y ago
The Southern part of India happens to be the actual point of origin of the banana plant and would therefore be the site with the greatest genetic diversity of both edible and wild inedible banana species. Same way Kazakhstan happens to be the origin of apples and used to have the most genetic variation until some Soviet era dictator decided to have much of the forests that were the gene bank for apple varieties cleared to grow cotton instead. Of note, many have forgotten, but rice suffered from a pandemic blight in the 1980s that was saved only because a particular species of wild rice, coincidentally found in South India, happened to have disease resistant genes.
- denzil_correa 10y ago
  > The Southern part of India happens to be the actual point of origin of the banana plant Do you have a source for this part?
  - hbharadwaj 10y ago
    > Of note, many have forgotten, but rice suffered from a pandemic blight in the 1980s that was saved only because a particular species of wild rice, coincidentally found in South India, happened to have disease resistant genes. Do you have a source for this as well please?
    - dragonmum 10y ago
      Yes, please see: https://books.google.com.my/books?id=dlvNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA287&lpg=PA287&dq=rice+pandemic+blight+india&source=bl&ots=HI0y65x17S&sig=mp31SN_8V3wnlo2LurWyy29tXqI&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rice%20pandemic%20blight%20india&f=false https://books.google.com.my/books?id=dlvNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA287&l...

by Karupan 10y ago

m_eiman 10y ago

Always wonder why its availability isn't widespread! As a guess, it doesn't transport as well as Cavendish: ripens too quickly, gets brown spots too easily.

Karupan 10y ago
True that. I remember when I got a bunch for a 12 hour trip and it was basically gooey by the time I got to the destination.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

dragonmum 10y ago

The Southern part of India happens to be the actual point of origin of the banana plant and would therefore be the site with the greatest genetic diversity of both edible and wild inedible banana species. Same way Kazakhstan happens to be the origin of apples and used to have the most genetic variation until some Soviet era dictator decided to have much of the forests that were the gene bank for apple varieties cleared to grow cotton instead. Of note, many have forgotten, but rice suffered from a pandemic blight in the 1980s that was saved only because a particular species of wild rice, coincidentally found in South India, happened to have disease resistant genes.

denzil_correa 10y ago
> The Southern part of India happens to be the actual point of origin of the banana plant Do you have a source for this part?
- hbharadwaj 10y ago
  > Of note, many have forgotten, but rice suffered from a pandemic blight in the 1980s that was saved only because a particular species of wild rice, coincidentally found in South India, happened to have disease resistant genes. Do you have a source for this as well please?
  - dragonmum 10y ago
    Yes, please see: https://books.google.com.my/books?id=dlvNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA287&lpg=PA287&dq=rice+pandemic+blight+india&source=bl&ots=HI0y65x17S&sig=mp31SN_8V3wnlo2LurWyy29tXqI&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rice%20pandemic%20blight%20india&f=false https://books.google.com.my/books?id=dlvNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA287&l...