N.S. SOUNDARA RAJAN alerts us to the following piece in the latest issue of the New Scientist magazine which may offer an explanation for the disappearance of the 'Nanjangud Rasabaale', the out-of-this-world variety of bananas grown in the temple-town.
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A FUTURE WITH NO BANANAS?
Go bananas while you still can. The world's most popular fruit and the fourth-most important food crop of any sort is in deep trouble. Its genetic base, the wild bananas and traditional varieties cultivated in India, has collapsed.
Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India.
Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus.
The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing
new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.
Now the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that wild banana species are rapidly going extinct as Indian forests are destroyed, while many traditional farmers' varieties are also disappearing.
It could take a global effort to save the bananas' gene pool.
In fact, many of the genes that could save the Cavendish may already have been lost, says NeBambi Lutaladio, a plant scientist at the FAO's headquarters in Rome, Italy. One variety that contains genes that resist black sigatoka survives as a single plant in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, he says.
Why is it that we are having so many virus attacks these days? Coconuts, tobacco, chicken…
Maybe Pakistan ISI is behind all these attacks(Virus)
yenantheera…….
It is unfortunate the Nanjangud Rasabale cultivation is disappearing. The sweetish and the best variety of the plantains are, however, still available in small quantities in the Devaraja Market and some selected shops in Mysore, though costly compared to the recent ‘Yelakki Baale’.
The Botany Department under Prof. Ramalingam had taken up some research to protect and propagate Nanjangud Rasabale, which was once extensively grown in the around Nanjangud. I do not know the outcome of it. The Department should throw more light on it and the State Horticulture Department should take immediate steps to popularise the cultivation of this exclusive variety of plantains of Mysore, over which even some Kannada poets have sang in priase, in particular poet K.S. Narasimha Swamy.
May be the CFTRI and the some related labs would throw some light on Nanjangud Rasabale, whether they have preserved genetic formation for future use. The Spices Research Lab at Calicut has done some unique work in preserving genetic formations of spices for posterity.
I suggest you people contact Dr. T. N. Ramachandra Rao, retired scientist at CFTRI and former president/chairman of Elder Citizens Council.
He started the “Science Forum” in Mahajana college for students of high school to +2 level, where we could listen to, and interact with Scientists, Academicians and even tech. entrepreuners.
At the end of the programme(usually a fortnight), there used to be a field visit to a factory or some scientifically interesting place.
In the year 2001, Dr. Rao had invited a student of his(at CFTRI), who now worked at a leviathon bio-tech company as one of its main researchers, he told us that a particular research institute in Germany had taken few saplings of Nanjangud Rasa BaaLe… as of now, only couple of strains/species of that variety of Banana had survived and are still being rescued there.
I need to dig up my old notebook to find that person’s name and contact details(I remember jotting down his email address too… )
That scientist also told us that, what we are being sold as Najangud rasabaaLe was actually a cross between rasabaaLe and other varieties like Salem’s and/or kaad baaLe(many kinds of it).
Even my thatha used to say that these Nanjangud rasabaaLes are not the original, actual ones had a distinct aroma and were more grainy(maraLu, maraLaagittu) and were not abnormally thick like the ones we get today.
sir, honestly effort to be to save this wonderful verity.
Niventhira.
we will try doing some thing hi, ravi you can contact me on my mail id we will really do something to save this Nanjanagoodina Rasabaale……..