going HYDROPONIC bananas
With banana plantations around the world under attack by a soil-borne pathogen creating uncertainty for the popular Cavendish cultivar , many are realizing hydroponic bananas have some major advantages .
by Dr . Lynette Morgan orldwide banana production is facing a major crisis .
WThe industry , which is heavily reliant on a single , vegetatively propagated cultivar ( Cavendish ) is under attack by deadly fungal pathogens . Black Sigatoka and Panama disease ( Fusarium ) wipe out banana plantations , contaminate soil , and spread rapidly though and between production areas . This is not a new phenomenon with banana cultivation . In the 1950s the monoculture of one of the first widely grown commercial cultivars , Gros Michel , was wiped out by banana pathogens leading to the development of the then Fusarium-resistant Cavendish variety . However , as we all know , pathogens have an incredible ability to evolve and mutate , new strains of Fusarium developed and are threatening the banana industry once again . Ninety-five percent of the bananas consumed in North America are the Cavendish cultivar and thus susceptible to the new strains of Fusarium , and with bananas being the fourthmost consumed food crop and a major staple for millions of people in the tropics , finding ways to overcome these disease threats is of global importance . While plant breeding of cultivars with resistance to both these pathogens may hold promise , the ongoing development of new disease strains is a continuing possibility .
Greenhouse Bananas
With Fusarium being a soil-borne pathogen , soilless production of bananas has come of increasing interest in both traditional and non-traditional banana production areas . Bananas have been grown in greenhouses for decades , however , production has been limited to subtropical areas with sizable plantations set up in plastic houses in the Canary Islands and Morocco . These are largely soil grown , using greenhouses to modify the environment with a higher daytime temperature , protection from sunburn , wind , and hail , giving increased yields . More recently , hydroponic greenhouse bananas have been successfully grown in the Netherlands using coco peat and stonewool substrates to avoid the risk of aggressive fungal pathogens .
36 Maximum Yield