ABSTRACT
Banana improvement formally started in response to the decimation of large commercial plantations of dessert bananas by Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense. Black Sigatoka turned plantain into a delicacy in urban Nigeria and other countries in Africa, due to the high cost of the fruits subsequent to the reduced production caused essentially by the disease. In banana and plantain, the male gametophyte is easily affected by the environment because the pollen grains must be transferred from one plant to another by pollinating agents. Tissue culture also offers opportunities for using physical or chemical mutagenesis as well as genetic transformation based on site-directed or unspecific gene insertion, disruption, or substitution to create genetic variability. Nematode-resistance screening is carried out in parallel field trials using a method that is based on the inoculation of individual roots. Breeding is now conceived as a component of a larger, integrated effort aimed at developing and promoting market-preferred cultivars.
