CHARACTERIZATION OF MALAYSIAN WILD BANANAS BASED ON ANTHOCYANINS

MUHAMMAD ASIF JAVED (Division of Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya)
MAK. CHAI (Division of Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
ROFINA YASMIN OTHMAN (Division of Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

BIOTROPIA - The Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Biology
No. 16 (2001)

The male buds of 16 Musa species (Musaceae) populations were investigated by HPLC for the occurrence of anthocyanins. The investigation was based on the presence of 6 anthocyanins. The 16 Musa samples could be classified into three distinct species i.e. Musa acuminata, Musa violascens and Musa balbisiana. Musa acuminata could be divided into two subspecies : malaccensis (lowland) and tmncata (highland) according to their constituents and content of major anthocyanins. No variation was observed in the composition of the anthocyanins of Kedah type ssp. siamea and Selangor types ssp. malaccensis. The classification of M. acuminata into two subspecies based on anthocyanin data further supported the current taxonomic grouping of the species. Key words: Musa acuminata/Musa violascens/Musa balbisiana/Musaceae /HPLC /chemotaxonomy