A pilose fruit mutant in banana (Musa spp. ‘Williams’)

A mutant of Musa spp. ‘Williams’ was isolated by screening the plants from tissue culture and rapid propagation. We studied the morphological characteristics of the fruit epidermis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the pericarp of mutant was covered with trichomes. These trichomes were pointless and the length of the trichomes ranges from 0.02 to 0.37 mm. However, this kind of trichome was not observed on the pericarp of the wild type.