Abstract:
Besides bananas belonging to the AAA triploid Mutika subgroup, which predominates
in the Great Lakes countries, other AAA triploids as well as edible AA diploids, locally of considerable cultural
weight, are cultivated in East Africa and in the nearby Indian Ocean islands as far as Madagascar. All these varieties call for the genetic identification and characterization of their interrelations on account of their regional socioeconomic significance and their potential for banana breeding strategies.