`PITA-9': A Black-sigatoka-resistant Hybrid from the `False Horn' Plantain Gene Pool

Abstract

PITA-9 is a black-sigatoka-resistant tetraploid hybrid derived from the female-fertile French somaclonal variant of a False Horn plantain. It produces good bunches with equal or higher wt. than those of the plantains. PITA-9 has sweet-aromatic, yellow fruit pulp when ripe, with similar DM content but a lower percentage of fruit pulp than plantains. PITA-9 bunches have a long shelf life (full ripening period), which is significantly longer than that of French plantains. Shelf life at 25 plus/minus 3 degree C was measured in terms of changes in peel colour from harvest until the peel reached a fully yellow colour with black spots. Sensory evaluation by taste panels in Nigeria revealed that PITA-9 was ranked consistently as the best of all black-sigatoka-resistant tetraploid hybrids.