Banana boom
A new technology for the multiplication of banana plants in 12 commercial varieties has been developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. P S Rao, head of the Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology division of BARC says that the plants that are being developed with the new technology, will flower two months earlier than the normal period and will have an increase in productivity. Biotech scientists at BARC are applying the tools of radiation to develop new mutants of banana with improved genetic traits.