Breeding banana (Musa spp.) for drought tolerance: A review

Abstract

Drought is a major abiotic stress affecting banana production worldwide, leading to yield losses of up to 65%. Consequently, numerous efforts to understand and mitigate drought effects that include developing tolerant crop varieties are ongoing in several banana breeding programmes. The breeding efforts, however, have been greatly slowed down by inherent banana problems (polyploidy and male or female sterility) and complexity of drought tolerance (reportedly controlled by several genes). This review summarizes the pertinent research findings on water requirements of banana for its proper growth and productivity, symptoms of drought‐sensitive varieties and field management strategies to cope with drought stress. The coping strategies deployed by resistant cultivars include high assimilation rates and water retention capacity as well as minor losses in leaf area and gaseous exchange. Reduced bunch weight, leaf chlorosis, wilting and strangled birth are underlined to be directly associated with drought susceptibility. Integration of conventional, molecular breeding and biotechnological tools as well as exploitation of the existing banana genetic diversity presents a huge opportunity for successful banana improvement.

Using Genetic Engineering Techniques to Develop Banana Cultivars With Fusarium Wilt Resistance and Ideal Plant Architecture

“…For example, the banana B-genome has long been a target of breeding programs, as these bananas have a high tolerance of abiotic stresses, such as drought ( Tripathi et al, 2019 ). Banana plants are susceptible to drought owing to their shallow roots, large size, and rapid growth ( Nansamba et al, 2020 ). An optimal deep-rooting system may help bananas to resist drought stress by obtaining enough water from deep soil layers ( Uga et al, 2011 ).…”

Identifying opportunities to improve management of water stress in banana production

“…Supplementary irrigation at critical growth stages is important in low to scarce rainfall regions (Ravi and Vaganana, 2016;Nansamba et al, 2020). Irrigation supply to maintain 80-90% of total available soil moisture during 5-6 MAP is necessary if dry periods coincide with floral initiation and development.…”

Biocontrol Potential of Endophytic Streptomyces malaysiensis 8ZJF-21 From Medicinal Plant Against Banana Fusarium Wilt Caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4

“…Bananas (including plantains and other cooking bananas) are the world’s most important fruit with a global production of 113.9 million tons ( Nansamba et al, 2020 ). They are also a staple food for millions of people throughout the developing world ( Kema et al, 2020 ).…”