Why do bananas have no seeds? Uncovering their method of reproduction

Presumably many people have a question in their hearts: “Why do bananas have no seeds, and what is their method of reproduction?” In fact, the earliest and most primitive bananas did have seeds. The original wild bananas contained hard seeds one by one, making them extremely inconvenient to eat. Long-term cultivation and selection caused the wild banana to mutate, and the fruit no longer contained seeds.

Today's bananas are triploid and do not produce seeds. Banana cells contain 3 sets of chromosomes, with 11 chromosomes in each set. The process by which cells form sperm cells and egg cells requires a special kind of cell division, namely meiosis. Each set of 11 chromosomes clearly cannot undergo normal meiosis. Without the formation of egg cells and sperm cells, seeds cannot be produced.

This situation is similar to the growth of seedless watermelons. Therefore, bananas can only be planted through asexual reproduction. Bananas contain small black dots one by one, and many people think those are the seeds of the banana; in fact, they are only the seed coats. The banana itself does have seeds, but after many years of artificial improvement, bananas can no longer set seed normally, leaving only the seed coats. Seeds can still be found in wild bananas.

The asexual reproduction of bananas is mainly carried out by cultivating the adventitious buds in the corm into seedlings, which can then be planted to develop into banana plants.

Banana planting methods:

Cut the corm into small pieces according to the number and growing positions of the vigorous buds, with the buds facing upward, and cover with soil. When the seedlings grow to about half a meter, they can be transplanted. Asexual reproduction can preserve the genetic characteristics of the mother plant, allowing the mother plant's excellent traits to continue.

As everyone knows, the banana is a type of tropical fruit tree, and its growing temperature is relatively high, generally needing to reach above 21 degrees; at the same time, bananas are relatively sensitive to soil quality, and weakly acidic soil conditions may be more suitable for the growth and development of bananas.

During the growth and development process, bananas have relatively large demands for water and fertilizer. Attention should be paid to timely replenishment of water and fertilizer, especially in high-temperature weather, when the supply of water and nutrients should be increased; bananas have a large fertilizer requirement and a relatively high demand for potassium, so attention should be paid to the amount of potassium fertilizer applied during fertilization.

During the cultivation process of bananas, attention should be paid to wind protection to prevent reduced yield. Because the leaves are large and the rhizome is fragile, the leaves may be blown down or broken by strong winds during growth.