Overcoming the fertility crisis in bananas (Musa spp.)

Publication date: 23/11/2020
Extent: 50 pages

Contributions by: Delphine Amah, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria; David W. Turner, The University of Western Australia, Australia; D. Jane Gibbs, Consultant, Australia; Allan Waniale, Makerere University and National Agricultural Research Laboratories, Uganda; Gil Gram, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Uganda and Katholieke University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium; and Rony Swennen, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Tanzania and Katholieke University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium

Chapter synopsis: Edible bananas are normally parthenocarpic and seedless, a condition which ensures edibility but limits their use in hybridizations to generate new combinations of targeted traits for crop improvement. Hybridizations involving edible bananas result in too few or no viable hybrid seeds thus constituting a fertility crisis which seriously hampers banana breeding efforts. This chapter discusses the key processes surrounding effective pollination, fertilization and viable seed production in relation to our current knowledge on banana reproductive biology and the gaps in our current understanding. The chapter explores possible limiting stages to these processes and provides insights on ways to overcome the fertility crisis to expand the possibilities for gene recombination through intra- and interspecific crosses.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2020.0070.13