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Banana and plantain
Abstract/Description
Bananas and plantains (
Musa spp
.) are the
world’s fourth most important food crop after
rice, wheat, and maize in terms of gross value of
production. They are major staple food and source
of income for millions of people in tropical and
subtropical regions; particularly in Africa, an area
where the green revolution has had little influence.
The performance of bananas and plantains can
be severely affected by diseases and pests. These
are predominantly small-holders’ crops; most
growers cannot afford costly chemicals to control
pests and diseases. The host plant resistance is
the most sustainable approach to counteracting
pest and disease pressure. Transgenic technology,
together with conventional methods can assist
in overcoming these problems in developing
improved cultivars of banana and plantain. Some
successes in genetic engineering of
Musa
have been
achieved, enabling the transfer of foreign genes
into the plant cells. The transgenic approach shows
potential for the genetic improvement of bananas
using a wide set of transgenes currently available
that may confer resistance to pests and diseases.
The use of appropriate constructs may allow the
production of pest- and disease-resistant plants in
a significantly shorter period of time than using
conventional breeding; especially if several traits
can be introduced at the same time.