The road from Africa to Europe

Chapter 458 Hua Banana
This is because Ling Xiao knows that the bananas that humans like to eat very much are not naturally evolved fruits, but the fruits that human researchers have deliberately selected a variety of plants and cultivated through special crossbreeding. Bananas are very popular with humans.

Because this kind of fruit is fragrant, sweet and soft when ripe, it can be said that it is liked by most people of all ages, men, women and children. Those who have the opportunity to eat it will remember its taste and feel very good.

In addition, bananas are not only a delicious fruit in the eyes of most people, but even in some parts of Africa, bananas are the staple food of human beings, feeding many people. This shows that bananas have contributed a lot.

The reason why sweet bananas are delicious is that on the one hand, the taste is soft and sweet, sweet but not greasy. On the other hand, there are no seeds. After peeling off the skin, you can eat it in one go. You don’t need to spit out the seeds in the middle, which is convenient and quick , and quite delicious.

Most people don't hate this kind of fruit, and they have developed a lot of banana-based foods, desserts, dishes, and various processing methods, and even processed them into dried bananas for people who can't eat fresh bananas. .

The fruit of the banana is seedless, which is a good thing for diners, because there is no need to spit out the seeds when eating, which saves trouble and effort, and is definitely one of the most convenient fruits to eat.But for the banana itself, it is a different matter to have been seedless.

So without banana seeds, there are no seeds that can allow bananas to reproduce in large quantities. It is said that this fruit cannot reproduce in large quantities. So how did researchers make bananas grow all over the tropical regions of the world?
The researchers are very clever. In order to grow bananas on a large scale, they use a kind of asexual reproduction. Every new banana tree that grows is a plant cultivated from a part of the old banana tree.

It can be said that bananas all over the world are clones of a banana, and their genes are exactly the same. In this case, people will eat bananas with similar tastes.

Of course, strictly speaking, bananas are seedless, which is not entirely true. In fact, there are still a little bit of seeds left in the banana fruit. The only part that can be counted as seeds is some brown things in the pulp, which are degenerated seeds. The seeds are not mature at all and completely lost the function of reproduction.

It is precisely because of the inability to reproduce with seeds that bananas have been reproduced in a similar manner to cloning. The singleness of genes will eventually lead to a question: Will this banana be genocide?

Because bananas in the whole world have always been a kind of gene, once bananas encounter a powerful natural enemy, it means that all banana trees will be unable to resist this natural enemy. , It happened once in the banana world.

The bananas eaten by humans are actually called Huajiao. Before it, there was a bigger, sweeter and more fragrant banana variety: Big Mike. In the past, the banana that people loved to eat was worth dying for, and it was the banana that people ate. Bananas are even more delicious, and its fragrance is as good as the current banana essence.

But who told Big Mac to have only one gene, so after one Big Mac was destroyed by a fungus, more banana trees began to be infected with the fungus, and humans were unable to defeat that fungus.

Gros Micha bananas all over the world were eventually destroyed by fungi, and even the land where Gros Michel was originally planted still had those fungi, and Gros Michel could not be planted for about a few decades to avoid re-infection.

After the Big Mac was extinct, did humans have no bananas to eat?Fortunately, there was a backup variety at that time: Huabanana. Although Huabanana was not as big as Big Mac, it was not sweet enough and not fragrant enough, but it was better than no bananas in comparison. where it is planted.

But the Big Mike incident is a wake-up call for people, because bananas are planted using asexual reproduction, which is cloned again and again. Powerless, I just watched Big Mac go down.

The development of science and technology has enabled people to win again and again in the battle against bacteria, fungi, and viruses, but it does not mean that they can always win the war against bacteria and fungi. Many times, humans have also lost many times.

In fact, while human science continues to advance, organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi are also constantly evolving. For example, superbugs have appeared, and malaria in Africa has become resistant to drugs, and even viruses are mutating.

In the battle between Big Mike and fungus, humans also participated in the war, but failed to keep Big Mike in the end. This is a failure case, and it is a warning from nature to human beings. It is not good to interfere too much with nature.

The same Huajiao will one day face the same situation as Big Mac. A fungus and other organisms that it cannot resist will completely exterminate Huajiao, because it has no genetic diversity. Bananas will be infected, and the only way now is to strictly guard against it.

Um!After Ling Xiao knew about it, he felt one thing: we really need to pay attention to the fact that all kinds of plants and animals need more genetic diversity, so the pairs of animals in Noah’s Ark, now that we think about it, we can understand that this pairing method is actually There's no guarantee the animals will be able to reproduce, is there?Because the gene is too single, it is very likely to be eliminated.

In addition, don't do all asexual reproduction, let's do some sexual reproduction!Only in this way can the variability of genes be guaranteed, because maybe a certain gene will ensure that that species can reproduce.

It may seem that the genes are not perfect, but it will definitely not wipe out all the species when there is a problem. Genetic diversity will allow some creatures to escape when the disaster strikes.

Just like rice, many rice plants will lodging after heavy wind and rain, and some rice plants will not work after lodging, and naturally there will be no rice ears after that, which will eventually lead to large-scale production reduction.

Some rice plants will survive after lodging, and then there will be rice spikes and heavy fruits. The seeds that are produced later will pass on the lodging-resistant genes and become a lodging-resistant variety. This is also the benefit of genetic diversity. If one doesn't work, just replace it with another one.

In addition to the extinction of the Big Mac banana, there was another time when potatoes of a certain country were planted for many years, and the potatoes went out of production, which caused many people who used potatoes as their staple food to starve to death.

In fact, there is also a problem with potatoes. In many cases, potatoes are not grown with sexually propagated seeds. In fact, how do you grow potatoes?
Generally, the tubers of potatoes should be cut into several pieces, and the buds on the small tubers should be planted, so that new potato plants can emerge. In this way, the reproduction of potatoes is very similar to that of bananas, and only then will there be an outbreak Sickness, the situation where potatoes are completely finished, also caused people to starve to death.

Ling Xiao, who recalled the evolution history of bananas, was a little puzzled when he saw trees that resembled bananas, because she didn't know if they could eat them?Wild bananas that have not been cultivated in the mortal world are not tasty at all, because the fruit is full of seeds.

Even if you taste the fruit after it is ripe, you will not like it very much. If you have eaten the banana, you will find that there is very little meat, almost most of which are seeds, and basically have no idea of ​​​​eating wild bananas.

The reason why wild bananas do this is also for the reproduction of their own population. In fact, the delicious fruit is the result of the evolution of plants for the reproduction of the race. Many animals eat the fruit because the flesh is delicious, sweet and nutritious. They will eat again and again, possibly eating the seeds in the process.

As far as the animals go, the seeds can go as far, because the seeds are protected by the husk and will not be digested. Those animals cannot digest the seeds at all, so they will only be pulled out with feces, and the seeds still have a chance to germinate , then the pulp strategy evolved by plants is successful.

And this mutually beneficial behavior is conducive to the reproduction of plants. Plants will grow enough and delicious fruits to attract animals, so that enough seeds can be taken away from the mother plant, which greatly ensures that the plant population will grow more. come out.

The same animals will also like to eat more delicious and nutritious fruits, because after eating, the animals in the population will be stronger and have the ability to fight against other populations and natural enemies.

In this case, it is a win-win situation. The delicious and nutritious fruit ensures that the animals will have more competitiveness, and the animal population will have more of the same race and a larger territory, so the seeds of the plants will follow. further afield.

Plants in this win-win mode will make their own flesh delicious, because its seeds may go further afield, and how to make it more delicious becomes the correct direction of its own evolution.

And the plants with unpalatable fruits are gradually becoming less attractive, and it is possible that because of their inability to attract more diners, the seeds will grow in the vicinity at most, and their competitiveness will decrease, and they will be gradually eliminated.

This is the survival of the fittest after the animals and plants each choose their own evolutionary direction. The correct evolutionary direction allows them to reproduce, while the animals and plants that cannot adapt to the wrong evolutionary direction will become extinct. This is natural selection. Those who survive.

As plant creatures, in order to reproduce in the direction of evolution, they naturally hope to have more seeds and live in more places. Maybe they can't adapt to the new environment and will die halfway, and some seeds can't wait to germinate at all. Opportunities die young, but as long as there are enough seeds, there will always be success.

Under such circumstances, Ling Xiao feels that the plant that looks like a banana is not the banana he imagined. He believes that wild bananas will not forcefully produce seedless bananas like humans. How can seedless bananas reproduce everywhere?The advent of the seedless banana completely sacrificed the chances of the plant species, the banana, to reproduce itself.

Even though she suspected that the bananas were not delicious, she went down when she arrived at the place and found that there were some small animals haunting that place. Ling Xiao took a look and felt that these plants should be edible, but if she picked a large number of them, would it make people eat bananas? They can't survive?

She couldn't let other animals not have enough food because of her own whim. After thinking about it for a while, she decided: Even if it is delicious, she can't pick too much, and don't rob the small animals of food.

She picked one of the highest ones to try. After taking a bite, she found that it was not very tasty. In the case of broken teeth, what else is there to eat?

Sure enough, it wasn't a delicious seedless banana. Ling Xiao didn't want to eat it anymore. Of course, she didn't think about researching seedless bananas. One was that she didn't have the effort, but she felt that normal bananas had seeds. It can reproduce on its own without human intervention.

Evolution is hard to say, maybe the gene mutates every day, and the real banana appears, because everything is possible, so there is no need to castrate the banana for your own preference, or just let it grow naturally.

Ling Xiao didn't pick more bananas, didn't eat the fragrant fruit, and didn't feel disappointed. Although he couldn't eat it, it's good to live with wild bananas like this, and its race will continue to multiply.

Looking at the banana that had been ripped open in his hand, Ling Xiao glanced at it, and after being bitten, the fruit looked a little like laughing, because this kind of banana looked like a wild fruit.

To put it bluntly, the bananas now look like the wild August melon. In fact, I remember that the August melon is also called wild banana in some places.If the flesh of the banana was more transparent, it would look like a fleshy bug lying in the shell. This image is still a bit of a headache.

In the end, Ling Xiao thought about it, and there was no such thing as a trash can, so it would be better to just walk forward and throw it on the ground, maybe it would be able to give Banana a new territory.

After thinking it over, she left here and continued on her way, and then she found a place to throw the wild bananas to a place with soil, which was regarded as completing her task.Follow her and start to pay attention to the situation, and find a lot of good things along the way.

She was especially surprised that she picked up a lot of good things for mortals, of course, these things are not very valuable for monks, such as gems, and they are pure natural gems.

At first she didn't wake up, she thought it was the kind of colored glass, but when she thought about it, it wasn't glass at all, she picked it up and looked at the light, those unpolished gems didn't have much light, but they were very transparent, why not Waiting to polish it out to see later.

She was thinking: what method should be used to polish the gemstones, and then she thought that now she is a monk, and polishing this is a piece of cake.I paid attention when I was looking for other places, and found more gems, all of which were colorful and good materials.

It was also found that the gemstones found in the Yaozu world were clearer. Ling Xiao took a look and felt that the gemstones in this place were not low in hardness, hey!It's really good, and it can be used as an exchange for money in the future.

Naturally, she had to think about the future. Seeing so many gemstones, she really felt that she could just pick them up. After thinking about it, she must make more jewelry. It seems that selling gemstones alone is not as good as making them into jewelry.

She still remembered that in another world, someone was very skillful and made a specially imitated empress phoenix crown. Very regal.

Wow!It is definitely very valuable, but the phoenix crown is also very heavy. Wearing these things can be said to carry dozens of catties on the head. There are also special dresses and special accessories on the body. You will feel the weight all over your body. It is not light, and you need someone to support you when you walk. You must know that it is not easy to be a noble lady in ancient times.

Um!Just do it like this, and when she has free time, she will make some beautiful accessories. She also knows that it is best not to leave too many personal traces when making these things, so as to prevent some people from directly recognizing that this is not a product of this planet.

In addition to those gems, Ling Xiao encountered a river when he was about to reach the mountain. Thinking that there might be fish in the river, he was going to catch fish. The river water was very clear. She squatted down to test the water temperature and found that it was very cold.

You must know that the surrounding temperature is not low at this time, but the river water is obviously much lower. It should be so low after the snow on the mountain melts. I am afraid that there are not many fish because the water temperature is too low.

Ling Xiao saw that there were a lot of pebbles in the river, so she picked them up, but when she got them in her hand, she realized that the pebbles were not ordinary stones, but so-called jade.

She began to collect a lot of stones, rubbed the stones violently, and found a lot of good white jade, or the kind of suet jade, which made her feel very happy, so she continued to search, removing the outer skin of the jade and putting stones on it. Quality, reduce portion.

(End of this chapter)