selective breeding of bananas - (Dec/23/2006 )
when i was searching for hybrids among plants, one of which was banana 
, i found this site
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0719-02.htm
welcoming your comments 
the article does give an idea of the problem on bananas,
however it has made several errors....
1- bananas can not be grafted. Anybody who has cut open a banana 'tree' will realise this immediately. So the phrase
"Ancient plant breeders grew edible bananas by grafting sterile mutants onto wild stems." is total rubbish. Bananas are propagated by shoots that grow from the corm that develops as the base of banana pseudostem. Yes this means the 'banana tree' is actually a really strange modified leaf.
2- There are still plenty of banana varieties in south east asia and southern asia. However many do not have the characteristics required for international export and thus remain local. As for claims of the tropical banana are all bland, fiberous and starchy (?!) That is plain slander! By comparison to some varieties, the cavandish banana can be considered tasteless and without any hints of being sweet. There are many varieties, some with a very strong taste, smell and colour. Which is actually considered a marketing problem.
The author of the article may not realise that the 'natives' have two types of bananas... cooking and dessert. much like apples. The author of said article is probably comparing a cooking banana variant with a cavandish banana (a dessert banana).
3 - Many places growing banana for export, do not have bananas as a native species. Thus banana in said monoculture plantations were untouched by any disease. The problem is the arrival of banana diseases which quickly adapt to the monoculture and drop production yeilds, sometimes going so far as to even killing the plant.
As for the banana going extinct? Well... Commercial production for Europen consumption and indeed endangered. But as a species the banana isn't going anywhere. Genetic engineering would help with the development of resistence by transfering genes from one variant to another and quite likely from the wild diploid species.
I see the genetic engineering as the means to save the triploid (seedless banana) banana that we all 'love'. Having to eat the 'wild' diploid banana with its' small fruit and many-many black seeds is just too horrible a though to contemplate.
"Ancient plant breeders grew edible bananas by grafting sterile mutants onto wild stems." is total rubbish. Bananas are propagated by shoots that grow from the corm that develops as the base of banana pseudostem. Yes this means the 'banana tree' is actually a really strange modified leaf.
well, thanx pernesblue for your comments
i'm not an expert in banana breeding, but you seem right since we grew these trees in our small garden since years, many shoots grew here and there just like palm trees
so since they grow by this means, what makes them in danger!!
yes, i read somewhere that there are other varities of bananas, but they are not widely distributed, so just the native people know about them,...red bananas
i want to see the ancient diploid bananas,
may be they will look like the ancient corn 