Genetic Improvement of Banana Using Conventional andIn VitroTechnologies

Abstract

Banana ( Musa spp.) is an important nutrient-rich fruit crop cultivated in the tropics and sub-tropics for local consumption and export. Targets for genetic improvement of banana range from improved fruit quality, yield, disease resistance, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and the biosynthesis of pharmaceutical compounds. Sterility has limited the success of generating new cultivars by conventional breeding. Tissue culture-based technologies that involve embryo rescue, the generation of somaclonal variation, and gene-transfer procedures are a useful adjunct to sexual hybridization, although considerable effort is required to establish robust protoplast-to-plant systems for somatic hybridization. Transformation involving Agrobacterium and biolisticsmediated gene transfer is feasible, underpinned by shoot regeneration from cultured cells and tissues. Molecular characterization of germplasm will facilitate the selection of material most relevant for incorporation into sexual and somatic genetic-improvement programs.

Morphological Characterization and Seed Germination Study of Wild Banana <i>Musa acuminata</i> var. <i>flava</i> (Ridl.) Nasution

“…Conventional sexual hybridization is often applied in most cultivated banana. Banana breeding efforts are focused on increasing selected wild diploid, semi -partenocarpic and parthenocarpic male parents (Sipen et al 2011).…”

“…Seed gene banks for bananas are applicable for seedproducing diploid wild Musa species, not for cultivar bananas. Ex-situ seed conservation of diploid wild banana, especially collected from wild population, brings impact on the seed collection quality (Sipen et al 2011;Kallow et al 2020). Furthermore ex-situ seeds conservation of wild bananas is constrained by critical knowledge gaps in their germination ecology, behavior, and also storage which need to be addressed (Kallow et al 2020;Kallow et al 2021).…”

Advances in DNA based Molecular Markers for the Improvement of Fruit Cultivars in Pakistan-A Review

“…The main contributor of the production in Pakistan is the Sindh (90%) and Punjab (10%) province respectively. Many factors such as human activities, growing of specific fruit cultivars of consumers choice along with many biotic and abiotic stresses are gradually causing a depletion in Musa germplasm (Sipen et al, 2011). Likewise, banana is facing a decline in its yields because of bacterial, fungal and nematode infections.…”

Improvements in the Resistance of the Banana Species to Fusarium Wilt: A Systematic Review of Methods and Perspectives

“…Until now, there are reviews available in the literature about Fusarium wilt related to epidemiology and disease management [30,35,41,[52][53][54], biological control [45,55], genetic breeding for resistance [56,57] and one review about genomic aspects of Musa spp. for stress resistance [58].…”