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Journal of Plant Sciences

Year: 2008 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 3 | Page No.: 216-223
DOI: 10.3923/jps.2008.216.223
On-farm Evaluation and Consumer Acceptability Study of Selected Tetraploid Musa Hybrid in Ghana
B. M. Dzomeku, F. Armo-Annor, K. Adjei -Gyan, J. Ansah, A. Nkakwa and S. K. Darkey

Abstract: An agronomic study was conducted to evaluate three Musa hybrids (BITA-3 - cooking banana, FHIA-21 and CRBP-39- both hybrid plantains) with five hundred farmers in the two Assin districts in the Central region of Ghana. At harvest sensory evaluation was carried out on the three hybrids for use as fufu, ampesi and ripe fried plantain to access their acceptability at four locations in the two districts. The results showed that there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between the numbers of leaves at flowering among the hybrids across the locations. The hybrids showed superiority over the local check in terms of number of functional leaves from flowering to harvest. All the hybrids (FHIA-21, CRBP 39, BITA-3 and FHIA-25) exhibited stable performance in yield and growth characteristics across the locations. FHIA-25 was however late maturing (18-20 months) whereas BITA-3 was early maturing (10-12 months). Nevertheless, the bunch weight (40-50 kg) of FHIA-25 could be said to have compensated for the long crop cycle. Daughter sucker production by FHIA-25 was also low (two daughter suckers at flowering). BITA-3 was roboust and sturdy with pseudostem girth of 60 cm carrying an average bunch weight of 25 kg. All the hybrids were resistant to the black Sigatoka disease. These results suggested that the performance of the hybrids was not influenced by the seasons or locations. It implies that under good management practices, farmers would be assured of good yields irrespective of time or season of planting so long as there is adequate supply of moisture. The results of the sensory evaluation indicated that there were no significant differences (p<0.01) between FHIA-21 and CRBP-39 and the local Apantu across the location, across the parameters and the recipes assessed. FHIA-21 and CRBP-39 were the most preferred and compared favourably with the local triploids (Apantu and Apem) with BITA-3 the least preferred. The hybrids were accepted for ripe fried plantain at stages 3 and 4 of ripening. Beyond these stages of ripening, the hybrids could only be used for other processed food recipes.

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How to cite this article
B. M. Dzomeku, F. Armo-Annor, K. Adjei -Gyan, J. Ansah, A. Nkakwa and S. K. Darkey, 2008. On-farm Evaluation and Consumer Acceptability Study of Selected Tetraploid Musa Hybrid in Ghana. Journal of Plant Sciences, 3: 216-223.

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