Breeding banana (Musa spp.) for drought tolerance: A review
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Plant Breeding
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.
Description
Keywords
Banana water requirement, Drought stress, Drought tolerance, Molecular markers, Musa spp., Phenotyping
Citation
Nansamba, M., Sibiya, J., Tumuhimbise, R., Karamura, D., Kubiriba, J., & Karamura, E. (2020). Breeding banana (Musa spp.) for drought tolerance: A review. Plant Breeding, 139(4), 685-696. DOI: 10.1111/pbr.12812