Networking addresses Banana and Plantain · • To organize and coordinate a global research effort...

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INIBAPaddressesParc Scientifique Agropolis II34397 Montpellier Cedex 5 FranceTel.: 33-(0)4 67 61 13 02Fax: 33-(0)4 67 61 03 34e-mail: [email protected]://www.inibap.org

Latin America and the CaribbeanC/o CATIEApdo 60 – 7170 TurrialbaCosta RicaTel./Fax: (506) 556 24 31e-mail: [email protected]

Asia and the Pacific3rd floor, Collaborators CenterC/o IRRILos Baños, Laguna 4031PhilippinesTel./Fax: (63 49) 536 05 32e-mail: [email protected]

West and Central AfricaBP 12438DoualaCameroonTel./Fax: (237) 42 91 56e-mail: [email protected]

Eastern and Southern AfricaPo Box 24384KampalaUgandaTel.: (256 41) 28 62 13Fax: (256 41) 28 69 49e-mail: [email protected]

INIBAP Transit Center (ITC)Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenLaboratory of Tropical Crop ImprovementKardinaal Mercierlan 92B-3001 HeverleeBelgiumTel.: (32 16) 32 14 17Fax: (32 16) 32 19 93e-mail: [email protected]

Banana andPlantain

NetworkingBanana andPlantain

NetworkingBanana andPlantain

AnnualReport 1999

The mission of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain is tosustainably increase the productivity of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings for domesticconsumption and for local and export markets.

The Programme has four specific objectives:

• To organize and coordinate a global research effort on banana and plantain, aimed at thedevelopment, evaluation and dissemination of improved cultivars and at the conservation and use ofMusa diversity

• To promote and strengthen collaboration and partnerships in banana-related research activities at thenational, regional and global levels

• To strengthen the ability of NARS to conduct research and development activities on bananas andplantains

• To coordinate, facilitate and support the production, collection and exchange of information anddocumentation related to banana and plantain.

INIBAP is a programme of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), a Future HarvestCentre.

The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is an autonomous international scientificorganization, supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).IPGRI’s mandate is to advance the conservation and use of genetic diversity for the well-being of presentand future generations. IPGRI’s headquarters is based in Rome, Italy, with offices in another 19 countriesworldwide. It operates through three programmes: (1) the Plant Genetic Resources Programme, (2) theCGIAR Genetic Resources Support Programme, and (3) the International Network for the Improvement ofBanana and Plantain (INIBAP).The international status of IPGRI is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, byJanuary 2000, had been signed and ratified by the Governments of Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Benin,Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan,Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania,Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine.Financial support for the Research Agenda of IPGRI is provided by the Governments of Australia, Austria,Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, F.R.Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland,Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (F.Y.R.), Malta, Mexico,the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, SouthAfrica, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, the USA and by the Asian Development Bank,Common Fund for Commodities, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), EuropeanEnvironment Agency (EEA), European Union, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD), Interamerican Development Bank, Natural Resources Institute (NRI), Centre decoopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), Nordic Genebank,Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP), Taiwan Banana Research Institute (TBRI) and the World Bank.

The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part of IPGRI concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning thedelimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewsof these participating organizations.

Citation: INIBAP. 2000. Networking Banana and Plantain: INIBAP Annual Report 1999. InternationalNetwork for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, Montpellier, France.

Illustrations: Teresa Andon

INIBAP ISSN: 1029-2209© International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, 2000

IPGRI Headquarters INIBAP HeadquartersVia delle Sette Chiese 142 Parc Scientifique Agropolis 200145 Rome, Italy 34 397 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

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ContentsForeword 5

Musa Germplasm Management 6

Focus Paper I 14

Progress in understanding the roots of Musa spp.

Musa Germplasm Improvement 20

Focus Paper II 28

Nutritive value of banana

INIBAP around 32

the WorldLatin America and the Caribbean 34Asia and the Pacific 36Eastern and Southern Africa 39West and Central Africa 41

Musa Information andCommunications 44

INIBAP publications 48

INIBAP 1999Board of Trustees 52Financial Highlights 52Staff List 53

Acronyms and Abbreviations 54

L’INIBAP en 1999 (résumé en français) 55

INIBAP en 1999 (resumen en español) 60

INIBAP Annual Report 1999

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ForewordA major collaborative effort has borne significant results in 1999. The

second phase of IMTP, involving 19 countries, has been completed and adetailed analysis is now available of the performance of several promisingnew hybrids with tolerance to black Sigatoka and Fusarium wilt, the majorbanana diseases. These varieties will be disseminated to farmers throughvarious mechanisms and their impact on crop yields will be closely followed.The improved varieties examined in Phase I continue to find acceptance in themajor banana-producing countries of the world and their contribution toincreased yields in Tanzania, Nicaragua and Cuba have been particularlyevident.

During 1999, a sharp increase in germplasm distribution has beenexperienced, highlighting the important function of the INIBAP genebank.Fortunately, the capacity of the genebank to deal with such demand iscontinually expanding, as procedures to deal with bacterial contamination,identify viral infection, and to provide comprehensive characterization ofvarieties are improved. The virus-indexing centre in South Africa is now fullyoperational and allows for an increase in the volume of accessions beingchecked yearly. In line with CGIAR recommendations, material acquisition andtransfer agreements, have been introduced to ensure that improved varietiesmay be made available to farmers, whilst safeguarding the interests ofbreeding programmes.

The feasibility of organic banana production as a sustainable andeconomically profitable crop continues to be examined. Following the technicalworkshop in 1998, a meeting was organized in the Dominican Republic,bringing together all stakeholders in the production and marketing of organicbananas. Discussions focussed on organic bananas as a smallholder cropwith special emphasis on the Caribbean. Evidence so far provides promisethat production at this level can lead to increased revenues.

Despite the increased support for Musa research over the last few years,levels of funding still do not reflect the importance of the crop as a means offood security and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Within theCGIAR, the Technical Advisory Committee has identified Musa research as anarea which is funded below recommended levels. It is, therefore, urgent thatwe strengthen the effort to raise public awareness and emphasize theimportance of the crop. In collaboration with its partners, INIBAP will makespecial efforts to achieve this goal.

Many challenges remain to be addressed, which demand the strong supportof donors. INIBAP will continue to foster partnerships with National AgriculturalResearch Systems in producing countries, the Advanced Research Institutesin industrialised countries, NGOs working with farmers and with the privatesector in order to meet these challenges.

Emile Frison Geoffrey HawtinDirector, INIBAP Director General, IPGRI

Some of the highlights of 1999

Musa germplasm management

Improving standards in conservationThe means of achieving quality assurance in thegermplasm collection are continuously scrutinised.A new protocol is now established to ensure theelimination of bacterial contamination in germplasmmaterial. It involves the use of three procedures toeradicate infections with Bacillus and Mycobacteriumaccording to their severity. In total, 88% of thecollection has been screened and 4% has requiredcleaning.

Banana dieback - combating a new diseaseBanana dieback virus (BDBV) was first reported in1998 and is, so far, known only from Nigeria.Collaborative work is under way to develop an assayfor virus-indexing so that the virus can be easilydetected in germplasm. An antiserum has beenproduced and serological characteristics indicate thatthe virus is related to several nepoviruses.

Availability of improved varietiesA material transfer agreement has been developed to allow INIBAP tomake improved varieties available for small-scale farmers, whilst allowingbreeding programmes to benefit from commercial use of germplasm.

Objectives: to conserve germplasmrepresentative of Musa diversity, including

farmers’ varieties and wild species, as well asimproved material from breeding programmes andto distribute this germplasm and related informationfor research and development throughout the world.

Storage of improved varieties. (Photo: KUL)

Symptoms of a doubleinfection with bananadieback virus andbanana streak virus. (Photo: G. Pietersen, PPRI)

Musa Germplasm Information System (MGIS)Electronic exchange of germplasm data maybe effected between INIBAP and partnerorganizations more easily than ever before.MGIS 2.0 is launched and has been distributedto partners. Many of the improvements to thedatabase have been suggested by users.

Working on MGIS.(Photo: B. Favre).

INIBAP genebankThe international Musa germplasm collectionmaintained by INIBAP, with the financial support ofthe Directorate General for InternationalCooperation (DGIC), consisted of 1136 accessionsat the end of 1999. During the year, 24 newaccessions were added to the collection and 6654 germplasm samples were distributed. Thenew material consisted of 15 accessions collectedin Vietnam during recent prospecting missions andnine improved varieties acquired from breedingprogrammes at the International Institute of TropicalAgriculture (IITA), Centre de recherches régionalessur bananiers et plantains (CRBP) and FundaciónHondureña de Investigacíon Agrícola (FHIA).

CollectingEfforts to fill in gaps in the germplasm collectioncontinue with ongoing collecting expeditions in

India, financially supported by INIBAP. A total of32 new accessions were gathered in 1999 in threenortheast Indian states by the National Board forPlant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and NationalResearch Centre on Banana (NRCB), bothagencies of the Indian Council for AgriculturalResearch (ICAR). These are in the process ofbeing characterized. Next year the collection ofIndian germplasm will be complete and the focuswill shift to a new geographical area.

Screening for bacterial contaminationAs part of the ongoing maintenance of germplasmaccessions, systematic screening for bacterialcontamination continued in 1999. In total, 1002 accessions (88% of the collection) have beenscreened for the presence of bacteria and 46 accessions have been found to becontaminated. A routine procedure for elimination ofthese bacteria has been established (see box).

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Networking banana and plantain

Protocol for the elimination ofbacteria from banana tissues

Various measures have been developed to rid accessions of differentbacterial infections as part of the routine maintenance of the germplasmcollection at the INIBAP genebank:1. For in vitro samples which are contaminated with Bacillus, the

meristem is isolated and regenerated.2. Mycobacterium-contaminated cultures are cleaned by growing the

plants from the contaminated tissue culture until they are 3-6 monthsold, and then removing explants of 1-3 mm size for regeneration.

3. Heavily contaminated cultures which fail to produce plantlets aresubjected to treatment with antibiotics (rifampicin 100 mg/l, 10-30 days) or to surface sterilization, before attempts are made toregenerate plants or isolate explants.

Musa diversity in India. (Photo:S. Uma, NRCB)

Wild bananas in theirnatural habitat.(Photo: S. Uma,NRCB)

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0

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Figure 1. Number of accessions distributed from theINIBAP genebank (some accessions are distributed morethan once)

Table 1. Showing the sensitivity of Bacillus circulans and Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare to different concentrations of antibiotics.Antibiotic Bacillus circulans Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare

< 50 mg/l 100 mg/l 200 mg/l < 50 mg/l 100 mg/l 200 mg/l

Rifampicin ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++

Tetracyclin HCl – ++ ++ – – ++

Streptomycin – ++ ++ – – –

Doxycyclin HCl – ++ ++ – – ++

Trimethoprim – – + – – +

PenicillinG sodium – – – – – –

Bacitracin – – – – – –

Chlorampenicol – – – – – ++

Erythromycin – – – – – –

Nitrifurantoin – – – – ++ ++

++ lethal dose, + limited effect, – no effect

Explant source and size

Culturing small explants has proved to be asimple and good method to eliminate bacteriafrom tissue cultures. Obtaining 82-100% cleanmaterial may be achieved by simply culturing1 mm-sized meristems from Bacillus-contaminated in vitro plants. However, cleanmaterial from Mycobaterium infected plants ismore difficult to acquire. The lower success rate(0-55%) might be explained by the smaller sizeof Mycobacterium cells, allowing them topenetrate deeper into the intercellular spaces ofthe meristem tip.

Elimination of Mycobacterium was moreeffective when explants (1-3 mm) were takenfrom plants grown in the greenhouse for up tosix months, rather than from in vitro plants. It islikely that, ex vitro, the growth rate of the plantmaterial exceeds the proliferation rate ofcontaminating microorganisms and thus resultsin a relatively greater part of the apical zoneremaining free from bacteria.

Antibiotics

To formulate the most appropriate use ofantibiotics, firstly the sensitivity of bacteria todifferent antibiotics was assessed to determinethe minimum concentration at which antibioticagents have an effect, known as the minimalbactericidal concentration (MBC). Then theeffect of these antibiotics, usually in a moreconcentrated form, was tested on the plant.

Results of tests of the antibiotic sensitivity ofBacillus circulans showed that rifampicin is themost effective bactericidal agent, working atdoses of 50 mg/l or lower. In the case ofMycobacterium, rifampicin was lethal to M. avium-intracellulare at concentrations lowerthan 25 mg/l. A number of antibiotics alsoworked at higher dosages (see Table 1).

Effect of antibiotics on shoot growth

When shoot tips contaminated with B. circulanswere exposed to rifampicin at a concentration ofat least twice the MBC, all plants were found tobe free of contaminants after 30 days. Antibiotictreatment caused a slight reduction in thegrowth rate of the shoots, but after subcultureon rifampicin-free medium plants recoveredcompletely. The treated explants were regularlyscreened on enriched nutrient agar andremained clean during a testing period of atleast one year.

A dose of 100 mg/l of rifampicin applied onshoot tips contaminated with Mycobacteriumresulted in 100% bacteria-free plants after 10 days of exposure. Other antibiotics testedwere found to be too harmful to plant tissue tobe of therapeutic use.

Distribution of germplasmThe number of accessions distributed doubled in 1999 compared to 1998 (Figure 1). This was largely due to the high demand for materials forgermplasm characterization work being carried out by Centre de coopération internationale en rechercheagronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) and the Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB).

Health status of INIBAP germplasmA total of 854 accessions (75.1%) have nowcompleted virus-indexing. Of these, viruses havenot been found in 643 accessions (75.3% of thosetested) and these are therefore available for

distribution. Details of the health status of theaccessions in the INIBAP genebank areprovided in Figure 2. The INIBAP virus-indexingcentre at the Plant Protection Research Institute(PPRI) in South Africa became fully operational,contributing to the capacity to distributegermplasm safely.

Material transfer agreementsIn 1999, in line with CGIAR policy, a new materialtransfer agreement was introduced by INIBAPcovering the distribution of INIBAP’s ‘in trust’germplasm collection designated by the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO). At the same time, INIBAP also introduced agermplasm acquisition agreement and a materialtransfer agreement for improved varieties acquiredfrom breeding programmes. These agreementsprovide a framework within which improvedgermplasm can be distributed by INIBAP withoutrestriction, whilst binding recipients to negotiatecommercial use with germplasm suppliers.

Cryopreservation researchOngoing research on cryopreservation at KUL,funded by DGIC, contributes to the efforts to attainhigher standards of conservation of the INIBAPgermplasm collection. Progress has been made to

improve post-thaw survival of cryopreservedmaterial using proliferating meristems as thestarting material. Details of these cryopreservationmethods (simple freezing and vitrification ofproliferating meristems) are provided in theINIBAP Annual Report 1998 (p. 9-11).

Experiments carried out during 1999 examinedthe following variables and their effects on viabilityrates of post-thaw material:• size of meristematic scalp introduced onto the

preculture medium,• concentration of BA (benzyladenine) in

preculture medium,• absence of light during the preculture period,• the consistency of the regeneration medium,• duration of the subculture period before

preculture,• duration of the exposure to the vitrification

solution,• composition of the vitrification solution.

Reduction in the size of the scalp (from 4 mm to2 mm) and increasing BA concentration in thepreculture medium (from 10 µM to 100 µM)tended to have a detrimental effect on the survivalof the meristem clumps during the precultureperiod. Therefore 4 mm scalps and 10 µM BAconcentration medium remain the optimalmeasures.

The presence or absence of light during thepreculture period appeared to have no discernibleinfluence on the post-thaw survival of the culture.The use of a liquid instead of solid medium,although effective in improving viability aftersimple freezing, has a lethal effect for mostmeristem clumps after vitrification. However,following a two-day post-thawing recovery on solidmedium, it was observed that most cultivarsshowed a slight increase in regenerationfrequency if they were transferred to liquidregeneration medium (Figure 3).

The most significant findings, perhaps, are theeffects of varying the duration of the subculture onhigh cytokinin medium before the meristemclumps are precultured, and those of changing theexposure time to the vitrification solution. Cultures

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56%25% 19%

HS2: not yet checked

HS3: checked and viruses found

HS1:checked and

virus-free

Figure 2. Overviewof the health statusof the Musagermplasmcollection at theINIBAP genebank

Figure 3. Influence ofregeneration mediaafter vitrification ofproliferatingmeristem clumps.After thawing,meristem clumps aretransferred to solidregeneration mediumcontaining 0.3 Msucrose. Then theyare transferred tosolid (ss) or liquid(sl) regenerationmedium (averagenumber of meristemclumps perobservation is 130)

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ss slIgitsiri

ss slKisubi

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callusshoot

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which have spent less time on the subculturemedium respond better after thawing. On theother hand, an increase in the time of exposure tothe vitrification solution from 30 minutes to twohours brought about a better response (Figure 4).Further experiments are now required to confirmboth these observations. The application ofalternative, and possibly less toxic vitrificationsolutions was not successful in improving post-thaw viability.

Determination of cryoprotective role of sucrose inbanana meristemsThe influence of preculturing on 0.4 M sucrose onlevels of free amino acids, sugars, membrane fattyacids and polyamines in different cultivars wasinvestigated. The aim of the study was todetermine the cryoprotective role of sucrose, sincepreculture of meristem clumps on 0.4 M sucrosesolution for two weeks is essential to obtain post-thaw regeneration. A better knowledge of its modeof action will lead to a more efficient optimisationof existing cryopreservation techniques and thedevelopment of new protocols.

A correlation was found between sucrosepreculture and amino acid concentrations. Allmeristem clumps (precultured or not) containedhigh levels of free amino acids accounting for upto 20% of the dry weight. Sucrose preculturealways resulted in an increase in alanine andtryptophan. The latter was particularly high incultivars which exhibit blackening and are difficultto cryopreserve. Preculture caused a reduction inserine content in those cultivars which survivecryopreservation well. When looking at absolutevalues, conclusions can be drawn that high post-thaw regeneration frequencies were associatedwith a low serine content and high content ofglutamine, glutamic acid, isoleucine and totalamino acids.

No correlation between fatty acid compositionand viability rates was observed. For all cultivars,the sucrose preculture resulted in an increase inC18:1 at the expense of C18:2 and C18:3. Thishigher degree of saturation would indicate that themembranes become more rigid after preculture. Aconsiderable change in polyamine content wasalso observed after sucrose preculture. Fourcompounds are detected: spermine, spermidine,putrescine and tyramine. Post-thaw viability couldbe correlated with an increase in spermine.

Research on Musa viruses

Banana streak virusResearch on banana streak virus (BSV) at theUniversity of Minnesota and at CIRAD’sDépartement des productions fruitières et

horticoles (CIRAD-FLHOR) is supported byINIBAP. The results so far have proved that viralparticles are integrated into the Musa genome andthat some apparently virus-free plants developinfections of BSV following propagation by tissueculture. In contrast to the virion DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid) recovered from naturalinfections, which is highly variable, the virion DNAfrom tissue-culture-associated infections has beenfound to be highly similar, if not identical.

Two types of integrated badnavirus sequenceshave been identified. While one integrationconsisted of a partial BSV genome, the othercontained more than one complete genome andwas almost identical to BSV recovered from tissueculture-derived plants. The arrangement of thisintegrated BSV DNA (BSV-Onne) suggests that itcan yield an infectious episomal genome viahomologous recombination.

Further research has led to the conclusion thatthe activatable BSV integrant is associated withthe Musa balbisiana genome, while the non-activatable or ‘dead’ integrant, which has beenidentified in Calcutta 4, is associated with theMusa acuminata genome. Research at CIRAD iscontinuing to investigate the hypothesis that theM. balbisiana genome contains an allelic systemwhich involves a ‘releasing factor’. When crossingM. balbisiana with M. acuminata, only thosehybrids inheriting the releasing factor develop thedisease.

Upon INIBAP’s instigation, the University ofMinnesota has devoted much effort in 1999 toinvestigating the occurrence of BSV-Onne andclosely related virus isolates in Grande Naine inCosta Rica, and in Grande Naine and Williams inEcuador. It was discovered that the intergenicregion of the genomic DNA of the BSV isolatesfrom these AAA genotypes is identical to that ofthe BSV integrant present in Obino L’Ewai. Incontrast, BSV-Onne (i.e. the episomal form)

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Figure 4. Influence of the length of theplant vitrificationsolution 2 (PVS2)treatment. Scalpswere excised andtransferred to thepreculture medium.After 2 weeks,meristem clumps aretreated for 0.5, 1, 1.5or 2 hours with PVS2and frozen into liquidnitrogen

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consistently has a deletion in this region. This suggests that the BSV isolates presentin the AAA genotypes were not transferredfrom AAAB hybrids, since all the virusisolates from the latter contain thedeletion in the intergenic region.

Since the BSV-Onne integrant couldnot be detected by Southernhybridization in genomic DNA fromhealthy Grande Naine leaf tissue,genomic DNA was isolated fromroot, apical meristem and cormtissue. No BSV-Onne integrantwas detected by hybridization,and there was no evidence oflatent infection by supercoiledepisomal virion DNA (minichromosomes). The questionof the source of BSV-Onneinfection in Grande Nainetherefore remains to beresolved.

To determine whether anyadditional integrants werepresent in Obino L’Ewai,two additional genomiclibraries were constructedand screened. Nohybridizing clonesdifferent from the originalintegrant were identified.

Banana dieback virusA new virus, called bananadieback virus (BDBV), wasidentified in Nigeria in 1998.A study, financed byINIBAP, has been initiatedinvolving close collaborationbetween researchers at IITANigeria, who first detectedBDBV, and the INIBAP

virus-indexing centres atQueensland Horticulture

Institute (QHI) in Australia andPPRI in South Africa. The aim of

the study was to develop a

serological and/or polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-based assay for virus-indexing.

The virus is associated with a dieback diseaseof bananas, in which the leaves of the plantprogressively turn necrotic and die, from theoldest to the youngest. After the death of the mainplant, the suckers become progressively shorterand die back in a similar fashion. The vector of thedisease is presently not known. A crude antiserumhas been developed and the virus has beenshown to be serologically related to severalnepoviruses. To date, the virus is known only fromNigeria.

During the first phase of this project, BDBV wassuccessfully purified. A mouse polyclonalantiserum has been obtained and a monoclonalantibody is also planned. Further research isrequired in order to fully characterise the virus,validate an efficient detection system and collectfurther information on the world-wide distributionand impact of this virus.

Banana mild mosaic virusThe identification of a new potex virus wasreported in the INIBAP Annual Report 1998 (p. 14). This virus has subsequently been namedbanana mild mosaic virus (BanMMV) and it hasbeen shown to be widely distributed in bananagermplasm. Possibly because it is frequentlyfound in mixed infections, little information is so faravailable concerning its symptomatology andeffect on yield.

Virus eradicationResearch on the eradication of viruses frominfected banana plants is being carried out at theUniversity of Gembloux, with funding throughINIBAP from DGIC. During 1999, eradicationexperiments involving the excision of meristemswere carried out on the cultivar Williams BSJ. Theplants were either inoculated with cucumbermosaic virus (CMV) by mechanical transmission,or with banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)transmitted by aphids. For research on bananastreak virus (BSV), a naturally infected plant wasused.

Meristems were excised from plants grown indifferent conditions: from in vivo plants maintainedin the greenhouse, from in vitro plants maintainedin rooting medium and from highly proliferatingmeristems. A treatment of thermotherapy (a progressive increase in temperature from 28 to 40°C applied to plants either in vivo or in vitroover five days followed by 4 weeks of alternatingday and night temperatures of 40 and 28°C) incombination with meristem culture was alsostudied.

Eradication rates of 100% were obtained forBBTV, using meristems from in vitro plants without

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Symptoms of a double infection with bananadieback virus and banana streak virus. (Photo: G. Pietersen, PPRI)

the need for thermotherapy. For CMV, aneradication rate of 10% was obtained whenmeristems were excised from highly proliferatingmeristematic tissue. Thermotherapy followed byexcision of meristems from in vivo plants resultedin 38% virus eradication. However the heattreatment had a negative effect on the survivalrate of meristems. Preliminary results for theelimination of BSV indicate that meristem culturesoffer strong possibilities of the eradication of theepisomal form of this virus.

New research on BanMMV eradication wasinitiated in 1999. A chemotherapy approach isbeing evaluated, based on the use of the anti-viralagents dihydroxypropyladenine (RS)-DPA and theguanosine analogue ribavirine (Virazole®).

CharacterizationINIBAP commissions studies on thecharacterization of germplasm as part of its effortsto insure the material distributed and conservedby the INIBAP genebank is well documented andcorrectly classified. Molecular techniquesintroduce a new level of confidence in existingclassifications and help to identify discrepancies,and the Musa Germplasm Information System(MGIS) provides a sound mechanism for thecollection and maintenance of morphological data.

Molecular characterizationThe 1998 Annual Report described the successfulcharacterization of Musa balbisiana andAustralimusa clones as a result of work carried outby CIRAD-FLHOR using ten sequence-taggedmicrosatellite markers (STMS). In 1999 a further214 clones were classified using seven STMSmarkers. The assay was carried out by non-radioactive urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(PAGE). A gel of 38 cm, three times the size of thatused in 1998, provided an even finer separation ofalleles and provided means of identification ofalmost all clones, except those in the most uniformgroups such as Cavendish.

Determination of germplasm ploidy levelsA large part of the accessions leaving the INIBAPgenebank in 1999 was destined for research ontheir characterization. As well as techniques usingSTMS (see above), assessments of ploidy levelswere carried out by IEB using flow cytometry,which measures the quantity of DNA in cellnuclei. In total 461 accessions were analysed, ofwhich 8% showed evidence of deviation from theexpected ploidy levels.

The present procedure is calibrated to analyseM. acuminata, M. balbisiana and their hybrids.The DNA content of other Musa species is quitedifferent, and the procedure will require specific

tailoring to cater for additional species.Nevertheless, this year’s work providesconfirmation of the value of flow cytometry as atechnique to screen germplasm on a large scale.Results obtained from flow cytometry generallyconfirmed the ploidy levels suggested bymolecular characterization, demonstrating thebenefits of using complementary techniques forcharacterising germplasm, especially wherediscrepancies occur.

Musa Germplasm Information System (MGIS)MGIS provides a powerful tool to support geneticresources management. The results ofcharacterization research from 11 national,regional and international collections are collatedin a single database which is administered byINIBAP. The database and its contents areavailable on CD-ROM and in various publishedforms, such as Musalogue. InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC) providedpart of the funding for activities in 1999.

A second version of MGIS (MGIS 2.0),incorporating improvements suggested by users,is now available, together with an updated User’sguide. At the end of 1999, 3662 records ofaccessions were held, including 977 taxonomicdescriptions, 1177 agronomic evaluations, 300 evaluations to stress and 490 photos. Table 2provides a list of the countries which sentinformation in 1999. Further developments toensure access to MGIS via the Internet and tostreamline data flow between MGIS and theSINGER database are planned for 2000.

A total of 33 scientists have been trained to useMGIS through a series of workshops. A workshoptook place in the Philippines in 1999 with the aim ofresolving some of the taxonomic problems withMusa names within the region. As a result, a list ofSouth East Asian cultivar names and synonyms isnow available for reference (see Asia/Pacific news).

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Table 2. MGIS participating countries and institutes.Countries sending Research institute Number data to MGIS of accessions

Australia QDPI 28

Belgium KUL 1204

Cameroon CRBP 405

China SCAU 23

Guadeloupe CIRAD 391

Honduras FHIA 321

India NRCB 809

Indonesia RIF 148

Papua New Guinea NARI 39

Philippines BPI 210

Vietnam FCRC 84

Mixed infection ofBSV and BanMMV.(Photo: H. Reichel & R. Perez,CORPOICA)

The Musa root system (Figure 1) is acomplex structure that supports multiple plantfunctions. For example, it ensures the optimaluptake of water and nutrients, providesanchorage to the plant and supposedlyproduces plant growth regulators (De Langhe etal. 1983, Swennen et al. 1984, Stover andSimmonds 1987, Price 1995). Althoughresearch on Musa roots started some 70 yearsago (Skutch 1932), this focussed predominantlyon the high value export dessert bananas, suchas the variety ‘Gros Michel’ (Moreau and LeBourdelles 1963) and later on the ‘Cavendish’varieties (Beugnon and Champion 1966,Lassoudière 1978, Avilan et al. 1982).

While extensive breeding efforts have beendevoted to improve shoot traits of Musa,comparatively little has been done for roots,despite the interdependence of shoot growthand root development. For example, nematodesreduce root growth, which often results in yielddecline in Musa (Swennen et al. 1988, Gowenand Quénéhervé 1990). While the nematodepest has been considered an important priorityin breeding programmes at InternationalInstitute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA 1997,1998), CRBP and FHIA, no systematic efforthas been devoted to develop root systems thatare less prone to nematode damage, thereby

relying on detailed knowledge of the rootsystem size and development.

A comprehensive study of the root system ofthe entire genepool is required to complete theideotype of a Musa plant and to support thegenetic improvement of plantains and bananas.Such studies have been carried out at the IITAand at the Université Catholique de Louvain(UCL). Experiments conducted at IITA focussedon elucidating relationships between root andshoot traits, assessing variability in root systemsize, assessing the biophysical effects on rootdevelopment and devising alternative methodsfor root evaluation (Blomme 2000). At UCL,research has been carried out primarily onlateral root initiation, aluminium toxicity effectson roots, cation exchange capacity of roots andinteraction with mycorrhizae. In addition, theeffects and interactions of nematodes andendomychorrizae on root growth are currentlybeing assessed at K.U.Leuven.

The considerable size of the Musa rootsystemThe number of cord roots (i.e. adventitiousroots) varies considerably depending upon thehealth status of the plant. A healthy corm (i.e.the true stem) can bear 200 to 400 primary cordroots with a total length of 230 m (Summerville1944, Robin and Champion 1962, Beugnon andChampion 1966). Fawcett (1913) noted thatgrowth rates of the tips may reach 60 cm permonth, which is in agreement with later studiesof the AAA variety ‘Poyo’ in Côte d’Ivoire wheregrowth rates of 2 to 3.5 cm a day were recorded(Lassoudière 1978). Roots generally spreadover 2 to 3 m and may extend up to 5 m fromthe plant, but most of the root system occurswithin a 60 cm radius from the stem (Avilán etal. 1982, Gousseland 1983). Root distributiondown the soil profile is mainly limited to theupper 40 cm but is, however, strongly influencedby soil type (Irizarry et al. 1981) and drainage.Compact soils, impermeable soil layers, highclay content and saturated soil conditions

Progress in understandingthe roots of Musa spp.Guy Blomme1, Xavier Draye2, Gervais Rufyikiri3, Stéphane Declerck4, Dirk De Waele5, Abdou Tenkouano6 and Rony Swennen5

1 INIBAP-ESA, P.O.Box24384, Kampala, Uganda2 Université catholique deLouvain, Plant Breeding -Crop Science, Place Croixdu Sud 2/11, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium3 Université catholique deLouvain, Unité des Sciencesdu Sol, Place Croix du Sud2/10, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium4 Université catholique deLouvain, Mycothèque del’Université catholique deLouvain (MUCL*), Unité deMicrobiologie, Place Croixdu Sud 3, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

5 Laboratory of TropicalCrop Improvement, CatholicUniversity of Leuven(K.U.Leuven), KardinaalMercierlaan 92, 3001Heverlee, Belgium6 Crop ImprovementDivision, InternationalInstitute of TropicalAgriculture (IITA), OnneHigh Rainfall Station, c/o L.W. Lambourn & Co. CarolynHouse, 26 Dingwall Road,Croydon, CR9 3EE, England

Figure 1. The Musaroot system

prevent or reduce root growth (Beugnon andChampion 1966, Champion and Sioussaram1970, Godefroy 1969, Lassoudière 1971).

The effect of soil and climateStudies on the effects of soil and climate on rootgrowth conducted at IITA stations in Nigeriarevealed significant influences of substrate typeand climate on root growth (Blomme, 2000). Also,field-grown plants had a relatively larger rootsystem (i.e. lower shoot-root ratio) under lownutrient conditions. These plants might haveinvested more dry matter in the root system inorder to explore a larger soil volume to produce avigorous shoot. In addition, a reduction in soil bulkdensity (during the first months after ploughingand harrowing) significantly enhanced root andshoot growth.

Root branching: the lateral rootsDue to their considerable surface in contact withthe soil, lateral roots are often thought to beresponsible for the major part of nutrient andwater uptake. Lateral root growth, however, ishighly influenced by micro-environmentalconditions (Blomme, 2000) and genotype(Swennen et al. 1986). As a rule, lateral roots aregenerally abundant on cord roots growing inorganic layers in the topsoil, and absent from cordroots growing deeper in the soil.

An in-depth study of lateral root developmentand growth is greatly facilitated under controlledconditions. Young plants were grown inhydroponics using a flowing standard nutrientsolution, or in large tanks filled with sand suppliedwith the same flowing nutrient solution. All water-grown cord roots produce laterals while many ofthe sand-grown cord roots are devoid of laterals,suggesting a possible role of mechanicalimpedance in the presence/absence of laterals.The few sand-grown cord roots which carry lateralroots, show lateral root densities and lateral rootlengths that are very similar to those of water-grown plants. Hence, at least a few root growthparameters might be estimated legitimately onplants grown under controlled conditions, despitemany controversial aspects of nutrient solutionexperiments.

Lateral root initiation has been furtherinvestigated under the microscope (Draye et al.1999) on field-grown cord roots. Neither theenvironment, nor the genotype affected theinitiation of laterals: the production of lateral root

primordia appeared to be constitutive and followeda rigid pattern of differentiation and cell division inthe root tip. Under certain circumstances, however,those primordia entered a dormant phase, givingrise to bare cord roots. Discovering the conditionsprevailing in the rhizosphere that lead, directly orindirectly, to the developmental arrest of lateral rootgrowth in the soil constitutes the challenge forfuture research conducted at UCL.

Allocation of dry matter to the shoot and rootsystemThe percentage dry matter allocated to the shootand the root portion of a Musa plant depends onthe developmental stage and planting material(Figure 2). For example, juvenile in vitro-derived‘Calcutta 4’ (AA genome group) and ‘FHIA-03’(AAAB genome group) plants allocated up to 45%of dry matter to the root system just after fieldestablishment. Subsequently, the percentage rootdry matter declined during the further growthstages to about 10-15% at flowering. In contrast,less than 20% of plant dry matter was allocated tothe roots of juvenile sucker-derived ‘Mbi Egome’(AAB genome group) plants, while the cormcontained up to 70% of the plant dry matter(Figure 2).

Percentage dry matter invested in the mat rootsystem decreased gradually towards floweremergence (Figure 2). For example, there was aclear increase in the shoot-root ratio withincreasing age for the in vitro-derived ‘FHIA-03’mat. The shoot-root ratio of juvenile sucker-derived ‘Mbi Egome’ plants was relatively high,compared to the in vitro-derived plants and wascaused by the large corm size of the plantingmaterial. As for the in vitro-derived plants, thehighest shoot-root ratio was observed during thelate vegetative phase.

Genetic variability in root growth andrelationships with shootgrowth: refining the ideotypeStrong positive correlations between shoot androot development of a mat (i.e. mother plant andlateral shoots) are observed during the vegetativeand reproductive phase. For example, thevigorous shoot growth of most plantains andcooking bananas is associated with a large rootsystem growth. In contrast, the semi-dwarf dessert

banana variety ‘Valery’ (AAA genome group) has asmall root system. Despite the observed variabilityin root system size between genotypes, shoot-rootdry weight ratios are similar for mats of a widevariety of genotypes (Figure 3). These resultsindicate that breeding for an increased rootsystem size, in addition to being cumbersome,goes along with breeding for a larger aerial part.The study of segregating populations shouldhowever be considered as different shoot-rootrelationships may be observed at the within-population level.

Strong positive relationships between shoot androot traits are also observed for the lateral shoots(i.e. suckers) (IITA 1999, Blomme 2000).Therefore, breeding for a regulated suckering (2 to3 well-developed lateral shoots present during thereproductive phase) may prove to be morebeneficial for plant anchorage and productivity ofthe crop than breeding for a modified shoot-rootratio or root system size of the main plant. Underregulated suckering, lateral shoots will have avigorous shoot as well as root development. Inaddition, their large corm size will give stability tothe mat. For example, plantain hybrids with aregulated suckering will be less susceptible totoppling compared to plantain landraces, whichpredominantly exhibit an inhibited suckering.

Towards alternativemethods for root systemassessmentTwo man-days are needed to excavate, wash andassess the root system of one mature Musa plant.Also, attempts to correlate root growth of juvenileplants with that of adult plants have beeninconclusive, indicating that an early assessmentof root system growth of juvenile plants may notgive sufficient information about the root systemsize and development of mature plants (Blomme2000). Therefore, methodologies for fast and non-destructive root system assessment have beendeveloped (IITA 1999, Blomme 2000).

Due to the strong relationships between shootand root traits, regression models were obtained toestimate root traits from easily measurable shoottraits (Table 1). More than 90% of the variability inroot traits could be explained by the variabilityobserved in shoot traits. However, as the shoot-root ratio is dependent on the developmental stageof a plant and on environmental conditions(Blomme, 2000), fine-tuning of these models is stillneeded for assessing plants grown under differentenvironments.

Core root samples taken around a plant canalso provide adequate information on thevariability in mat root system size (Blomme 2000).

0

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Figure 2. Dry matterpartitioning betweenroots, corm,pseudostem(including bunch) and leaves inunthinned mats of‘Calcutta 4’, ‘MbiEgome’ and ‘FHIA-03’from planting untilharvest (FL: floweremergence). (source: Blomme,2000)

Figure 3. Shoot-rootratio for the mat ofnine Musa genotypesat flower emergenceof the plant crop.{Calcutta 4 (AA);Valery (AAA);Agbagba, MbiEgome and Obinol’Ewai (AAB);Cardaba (ABB);TMPx 548-9, TMPx1658-4 and TMPx5511-2 (tetraploidplantain hybrids)}(source: Blomme,2000)

Leaves

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This method only takes about 5% of the timeneeded to excavate and assess the root system ofa mature plant.

These alternative methods may providebreeders and especially nematologists withadequate information on the roots of a Musa plant.

Aluminium toxicity, cation exchange capacityof roots and mycorrhizalinteraction in bananasAn increase in soil acidity may enhance thecontent of exchangeable aluminium (Al) in the soilResearch at UCL is focusing on Al toxicity inrelation to cation exchange capacity of the roots.Plant roots have cation exchange sites resultingfrom dissociated free carboxyl groups of organiccomponents in the root cell wall. In bananas, thecation exchange capacity of roots (CECR), asmeasured in nutrient solution and in soil, canlargely vary between cultivars but also betweentypes of roots (Table 2) (Rufyikiri 2000). Thevalues of CECR reported here range between 19and 48 cmolc kg–1. These values are much largerthan the ones reported by Bhattacharyya andMadhava Rao (1988), which ranged from 6.8 to13.5 cmolc kg–1 in ‘Robusta’ (AAA genome group)banana roots. Significant differences are related tothe root order (Table 2): firstly the CECR valuesare larger for the lateral roots than for the cordroots. Secondly, the CECR of ‘Kayinja’ (PisangAwak, ABB genome group) cultivar is larger thanany other cultivar. All cultivars show a positivecorrelation between the Al concentration in theroots and the CECR (Figure 4), resulting from thehigh affinity of carboxyl groups of root cell walls foraluminium. The preference for Al is further shownin Table 2: the fixation of Al on root exchange sites

occurred at the expense of other cations,especially Mg which leads to Mg-deficiencysymptoms and a reduced plant biomass (Rufyikiri2000).

The proportion of Mg in the sum ofexchangeable Al, Ca and Mg dropped from 40%to 6% with increasing Al saturation on roots.Therefore cation absorption may be inhibited by Alcompetition on root exchange sites and this isconsidered as one of the numerous mechanismsinvolved in Al toxicity. The cultivar Kayinja with alarge CECR has the largest Al concentration in itsroots and is the most sensitive to Al toxicity(Rufyikiri 2000). The presence of Al stronglyreduced the dry matter of lateral roots, becausethese roots have relatively large CECR.

In acid soils depleted of nutrients, the interactionbetween plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi canalleviate Al-toxicity. At UCL, this interaction wasstudied in banana, using ‘Grande Naine’ (AAAgenome group) and Glomus intraradices as thearbuscular mycorrhizal fungus. The uptake ratesof water and most nutrients (Ca, Mg, K, NO3-N,NH4-N, and P) were enhanced by the mycorrhizal

Table 1. Regression models to predict root system characteristics of 20 weeks old plants, using aerial growth characteristics and ploidy level as independent variables (source: Blomme, 2000).

Trait#

Trait# LA^ PC HS PL R2

DR 0.001628*** 0.596934** 0.93

NR 0.001459*** 1.255633*** 0.930

LR 0.066704*** 23.476717** 0.94

AD 0.093835*** 0.681434*** 0.97

TL 0.099478*** 14.69139*** 0.92

TD 0.002066*** 0.426590 0.17142* 0.93

#: LA: leaf area (cm2); PC: pseudostem circumference (cm); HS: height of thetallest sucker (cm); PL: ploidy level; DR: root dry weight (g); NR: number ofcord roots; LR: cord root length (cm); AD: average basal diameter of the cordroots (mm); TL: cord root length of the mat (i.e. mother plant and suckers)(cm); TD: root dry weight of the mat (g).

*, **, *** Significant at P<0.05, 0.01 and 0.001, respectively.

^: independent variables.

Table 2. Root cation exchange capacity and exchangeable cations (cmolc kg–1 dry wt) of five banana cultivars grown in nutrient solution without (-Al) and with 78.5 µM Al (+Al), and in soils (Andisol and Oxisol). The values are the means ± SE of triplicate (source: Rufyikiri, 2000)

Nutrient solution Soil in situ

-Al +Al Andisol Oxisol

Cord Lateral Cord Lateral Cord CECR roots roots roots roots roots

Grande Naine 21.7±2.3 34.4±1.9 27.5±1.1 ND$ 23.0±3.5 25.0±1.0

Kayinja 29.5±1.6 37.5±2.9 34.1±1.5 47.7±1.6 25.1±1.7 30.2±1.6

Agbagba 22.1±1.5 33.2±2.8 35.6±2.2 ND 23.2±1.0 23.8±1.9

Obino l’Ewai 22.9±2.7 35.3±7.8 35.0±1.1 ND 22.5±1.1 24.6±2.6

Igitsiri 18.8±1.1 29.4±1.6 31.0±5.8 34.9±1.1 20.3±2.1 21.2±1.9

Exchangeable cations (mean values of five cultivars)

Aluminium ND ND 8.8±0.8 ND 4.9±1.8 3.3±0.9

Calcium 15.1±1.3 ND 13.8±1.1 ND 15.2±3.0 7.9±1.4

Magnesium 9.8±1.7 ND 1.6±0.5 ND 12.4±2.3 3.5±0.7$ Not determined.

Figure 4.Relationship betweentotal Al concentrationand cation exchangecapacity of bananaroots.Values aremeans of fivebanana cultivars.(source: Rufyikiri, 2000)

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colonization of banana roots in the presence of Al.The mycorrhizal plants produced more shoot drymatter than the non-mycorrhizal plants grown inthe same conditions with Al (Table 3).Mycorrhization also caused a delay of appearanceof Mg-deficiency symptoms, the increase of theconcentration of most mineral elements in planttissues and the decrease of the Al concentration inroots (Rufyikiri 2000). Since no differences wereobserved between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal bananas grown in the absence of Alstress, it appears that the arbuscular mycorrhizalfungi could be effective in alleviating Al toxicity forbanana plants.

The effect and interaction of nematodes andendomycorrhizaeAs there is a functional equilibrium in plantgrowth, the high reduction in root growth, due tonematode infection, is accompanied by amoderate reduction of above ground growthcharacteristics. A study conducted by Blomme(2000) showed that the host plant response to a

nematode infection depended on the type ofplanting material (Figure 5). Sucker-derivedplants were observed to be less sensitive tonematode infestation compared to in vitro-derived plants, confirming observations made byDe Waele et al. (1998). For example, the rootsystem of the sucker-derived dessert bananastolerated higher nematode population densitiesthan the in vitro-derived propagules. Theplantains were observed to be highly sensitive tonematodes since moderate population densitiescaused a severe reduction in root system size.

In vitro-derived plants of the plantains ‘Obinol’Ewai’ and ‘Agbagba’ (both AAB genome group)were highly susceptible to nematode infectionand died during the late vegetative development.This is in accordance with reports by Swennenand Vuylsteke (1988), Price (1994), Binks andGowen (1996) and Fogain et al. (1996). Thefragile roots produced by the juvenile in vitro-derived plants may be less resistant tonematodes compared to the more robust andthicker roots produced by young sucker-derivedplants.

In field experiments in Costa Rica, De Waeleet al. (1998) have shown that at least during thefirst 12 weeks, in vitro-derived banana plants canbe severely damaged by Radopholus similis andHelicotylenchus multicinctus even at relativelylow nematode densities and that the adverseeffects were so great that the damagingsymptoms can be expected to continueindefinitely.

The effect of endomycorrhizae on Radopholussimilis population densities in banana plants wasstudied under greenhouse conditions by Umeshet al. (1988). They observed a reduction of thenematode population in both the roots and thesoil. Moreover, nematode damage to the roots(necrotic lesions in the cortex) was reduced inthe presence of endomycorrhizae. ForMeloidogyne spp. and Pratylenchus goodeyi,also important banana nematodes, similar resultswere obtained (Jaizme-Vega and Pinochet 1997,Jaizme-Vega et al. 1997, Pinochet et al. 1997).The suppressive effect of endomycorrhizae(Glomus intraradices) on R. similis was alsodemonstrated under in vitro conditions using Ri-DNA transformed carrot roots as host tissue(Elsen et al. 2000).

In Uganda, differences in nematode populationdensities and root damage (number of functionalroots, percentage of dead roots and necrosis)were observed between 2-to-3-month-old plantsgrown from sword suckers and the swordsuckers of established mats. This suggests adifferent host plant response to nematode attackby young root systems compared to older rootsystems (Speijer et al. 1999).

SD km 5

SD Gros Michel

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Figure 5. Reductionin root dry weight(g) of floweringmother plants of fourMusa genotypesplotted against thenematodepopulation densityper 100 g freshroots of R. similisand Helicotylenchusspp. for in vitro (IV)and sucker-derived(SD) plants. ‘km5’and ‘Gros Michel’are AAA dessertbananas; ‘Agbagba’and ‘Obino l’Ewai’are AAB plantains;‘TMPx 548-9’ and‘TMPx 5511-2’ aretetraploid plantainhybrids. The in vitro-derived plants of‘Agbagba’ and‘Obino l’Ewai’ dieddue to thenematode infection.(source: Blomme,2000)

Table 3. Shoot dry weight (g/plant) for the non-mycorrhizal (-AMF) and mycorrhizal (+AMF) banana plants grown without Al (Al0) and with 78.5 µM Al(Al2) and 180 µM Al (Al5) added to the nutrient solution. Values are means of

four replicates. For each parameter, values in the same column (-AMF and +AMF) followed by identical letter are not significantly different (P ≤ 0.05, Scheffé’s multiple range test). For each parameter and Al concentration, the effect of AMF is indicated by NS if not significant or * if significant at P ≤ 0.05 (t-test paired method) (source: Rufyikiri, 2000).Al treatments - AMF +AMF AMF effect

Al0 29.6 a 30.7 a NS

Al2 22.6 b 26.3 b *

Al5 18.8 c 21.8 c *

ConclusionsConsiderable advancements have been madeover the past years in understanding the Musaroot system. However, such research still has along way to go. Future efforts are required in orderto gain a greater understanding of root-shootrelationships and lateral root growth, whilemethodologies for easy assessment (e.g. geneticmarkers for root traits) need further developmentand more studies are required in the areas ofnematode resistance/tolerance, and the effect ofendomycorrhizae on root growth.

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Swennen R., E. De Langhe, J. Janssen & D. Decoene. 1986.Study of the root development of some Musa cultivars inhydroponics. Fruits 41 (9): 515-524.

Swennen R. & D. Vuylsteke. 1988. Bananas in Africa: Aspectsof diversity and prospects for improvement. Pp. 17-20 inProceedings of IITA/CNR/IBPGR/UNEP Workshop on CropGenetic Resources in Africa, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Swennen R., G.F. Wilson & D. Decoene. 1988. Priorities forfuture research on the root system and corm in plantainsand bananas in relation with nematodes and the bananaweevil. Pp. 91-96 in Nematodes and the Borer Weevil inBananas: present status of research and outlook. INIBAP,Montpellier, France.

Umesh K.C., K. Krishnappa & D.J. Bagyaraj. 1988. Interactionof burrowing nematode, Radopholus similis (Cobb, 1893)Thorne, 1949, and VA mycorrhiza, Glomus fasciculatum(Thaxt.) Gerd. and Trappe in banana (Musa acuminataColl.). Indian Journal of Nematology 18: 6-11.

International Musa Testing Programme (IMTP)Now in its third phase, the IMTP is set up to test varieties in a widerange of environments. A catalogue of 43 varieties involved inevaluation trials is available from the IMTP database.

A comprehensive analysis of Phase II hasrevealed the excellent performance of three FHIAvarieties, FHIA-17, FHIA-23 and SH-3436-9. Thefull results will be published early in 2000.

IMTP trial sites andimproved bananas.


Musa germplasm improvement

21

Objectives: to make available to NationalAgricultural Research Systems (NARS) a wide

range of tested, improved Musa varieties throughsupporting, coordinating and carrying out Musaimprovement research.

PROMUSANew listservers and the appointment of core members ofthe working groups have streamlined the flow of

communication through PROMUSA.Research priorities have beenrevised by the Fusarium wilt workinggroup, and a new genomics initiativeis to be launched within theframework of the Geneticimprovement working group.

Musa genetic improvementDetailed studies focusing onoptimising the technique ofembryogenic cell suspensionestablishment have taken place.Agrobacterium-mediated genetictransformation has proved highlyeffective at incorporating largesections of DNA into bananavarieties. High levels oftransformation have been obtainedwith low numbers of insertion sites.

Fusarium wilt is theNo. 1 constraint tobanana productionin Asia. (Photo:G. Molina, INIBAP)

Embryogeniccomplex on anObino l’Ewai Scalp(Photo: KUL)

International Musa TestingProgramme (IMTP)To date, under the partnership of NARS, INIBAPand breeding programmes and researchers, 13improved varieties and nine landraces have beenevaluated in multiple sites. Seven varieties haveperformed exceptionally well. Three improvedvarieties (FHIA-01, FHIA-02 and FHIA-03),identified in Phase I, have been distributed tomore than 50 countries and are alreadycontributing to better food security for small-scaleproducers, notably in Cuba, Nicaragua andTanzania (see regional news).

The data from Phase II experiments have beenanalysed in detail and the results will be availableas an INIBAP publication early in 2000. Theindividual performance and characteristics of

candidate and reference varieties in a wide rangeof environmental conditions are recorded in theIMTP database, which will soon be accessible viathe Web and on CD-ROM.

For breeding programmes to achieve realimprovement in varieties, disease-resistance mustbe accompanied with high productivity. Disease-tolerance and yields varied widely from site to siteaccording to different levels of management andenvironmental factors. The FHIA hybrids, however,consistently produced high yields and respondedwell to improved management (Figure 1).According to their bunch weight averaged acrossall trial sites FHIA-23 and SH-3436-9 performedbest against black Sigatoka (Figure 2), and FHIA-17 and FHIA-23 performed best againstFusarium wilt (Figure 3). The variety GCTCV 119is also worth noting for its resistance to both racesof Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). Itattained the lowest score for internal discolorationof the rhizome, and also produced good yieldsunder good management.

The degree of resistance exhibited by differentvarieties may be illustrated by appropriateindicators. For black Sigatoka the infection indexis a measure of the amount of leaf area that isaffected by the pathogen. The most usefulindicator of resistance was infection index at

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Figure 2. Averagebunch weight anddays to harvest ofvarieties tested fortolerance to blackSigatoka (left)

Figure 3. Averagebunch weight anddays to harvest ofvarieties tested fortolerance toFusarium wilt (right)

IMTP trial site in India. (Photo: G. Molina, INIBAP)

Figure 1. Bunchweight obtainedduring IMTP II fordifferent genotypes

bunch emergence (Figure 4). For Fusarium wilt,internal discoloration of the rhizome provided ascore of resistance to the disease (Figures 5 and6). As a means to simplify the evaluationprocedure and cut down on the amount of labourinvolved, these key performance indicators canusefully act as minimum data points. For instancein trials against black Sigatoka the diseasedevelopment time (DDT) did not provide a reliableparameter for resistance levels, and therefore maybe eliminated from trials for the purposes of basicevaluation. On the other hand, the infection indexat bunch emergence and the average fingerweight both give a consistent measure of degreesof resistance.

Now that the IMTP has entered its third phase,changes have been incorporated into the structureof the work programme. The aim is to allow moreflexibility for a wider range of national programmesof varying capabilities to participate. Evaluationtrials may involve in-depth studies of theperformance of varieties against disease andpests, including epidemiological and ecologicalresearch, or they may carry out a more simpleevaluation of the stability and adaptation of thevarieties against local conditions and diseases.Both types of study provide important feedback tobreeders, but the latter has a distinct application toextension agents and farmers.

New hybrids for inclusion in Phase III are in theprocess of being virus-indexed (Table 1). Of thethree hybrids from FHIA (FHIA-18, FHIA-25 andFHIA-26), the most promising, FHIA-25, and alsoFHIA-18 are available now for distribution. Afurther nine hybrids have been supplied by CRBP,IITA and CIRAD. A catalogue of 43 availablevarieties, an output of the IMTP database, isavailable and has been sent to 25 potentialevaluation sites, along with evaluation guidelines.The regional distribution centres have beenequipped with proliferating tissues in order tostreamline the distribution of plant material.

23


Table 1. New hybrids received by INIBAP from breeding programmes for testing under IMTP Phase III.Hybrid Source INIBAP genebank Type Availability Comments

accession No.

FHIA-18 FHIA, Honduras ITC1319/ITC1412 Dessert Yes Resistant to BS

FHIA-25 FHIA, Honduras ITC1418 Cooking Yes Resistant to BS

FHIA-26 FHIA, Honduras ITC1422 Juice/Dessert Still virus-testing Resistant to BS

BITA-2 IITA, Nigeria ITC1296 Cooking Yes Resistant to BS; susceptible to FW

BITA-3 IITA, Nigeria ITC1297 Cooking Yes Resistant to BS

PITA-16 IITA, Nigeria ITC1414/ITC1417 Dessert/Cooking Still virus-testing Resistant to BS

CRBP-39 CRBP, Cameroon ITC1344 Plantain Yes Resistant to BS

CRBP-14 CRBP, Cameroon - Plantain Not yet virus- tested



IRFA-911 CIRAD, France ITC1419 Plantain Still virus-testing Resistant to BS

BS = black Sigatoka; FW = Fusarium wilt

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Figure 5. Averageinternal symptomscore for differentvarieties - Foc Race1

Figure 6. Averageinternal symptomscore for differentvarieties - Foc Race 4

Figure 4. Averageinfection index forblack Sigatoka atbunch emergence fordifferent varieties

PROMUSAThe focus of activities in 1999 has been to ensureefficient information flow within PROMUSA,which now has a membership of more than100 researchers from 20 countries. Structuralchanges have taken place within all five workinggroups. A core group of members and chairpersonswithin each working group have been identified, inorder to facilitate exchange of information anddelegation of tasks.

INIBAP, in its role as secretariat and coordinator,has set up a number of email listservers and thePROMUSA Web site continues to develop. Newcollaborative links have enabled the development ofproject proposals, submitted to the EuropeanUnion’s 5th Framework Programme, Research andTechnology Development - INCO-DEV, and to theFrench Government. The latter has been acceptedand the project will help strengthen partnershipsbetween CIRAD, Empresa Brasiliera de PesquisaAgropecuaria (EMBRAPA) and INIBAP.

Genetic improvement working groupA number of members of the Genetic improvementworking group met at the “International Symposiumon the Molecular and Cellular Biology of Bananas”

at Cornell University in March. The participation ofresearchers from private companies provided anopportunity to investigate the scope for developingpartnerships between public and private sectors.INIBAP will follow up by examining how the privatesector might contribute to the aims and objectivesof PROMUSA.

The Symposium at Cornell University and thediscussions afterwards, heightened the awarenessof the rapid progress being achieved in genomeresearch. As a result it was agreed that a Musagenomics initiative should be launched in order tobring together researchers in this field. Its focus willbe on all forms of genetic mapping and tools tofurther the understanding of Musa genomes. Thefirst meeting is planned for early 2000 inMontpellier.

Sigatoka working groupA collaborative project on the leaf spot diseasecaused by Mycosphaerella eumusae is beingproposed by the Sigatoka working group. Thisfollows the identification of the causal agent of aSigatoka-like disease in India as M. eumusae. Theextent of the spread of the disease in India andother Asian countries is now under investigation byresearchers in the region (see Asia/Pacific news).

Fusarium working groupThe third meeting of the Fusarium working grouptook place at the “Seminar on Banana andFusarium Wilt Management: Towards SustainableCultivation”, organized by the Malaysian AgriculturalResearch and Development Institute (MARDI) andINIBAP in Malaysia in October. Presentations weremade to all seminar participants by working groupmembers.

A number of issues regarding Fusarium wiltmanagement were discussed. The needs fortraining in genetic analysis techniques and thedevelopment of a database on Foc diversity wererecognized. Such a database could be linked toMGIS to complement information on the responseof varieties to Foc.

A close link should be established with theGenetic improvement working group in order tocollaborate on developing Fusarium resistantvarieties. Input was made to the report of theGenetic Improvement working group. Priority areasfor research were identified as follows:1.Development of a plantlet screening test.2.Collection and evaluation of local germplasm for

reaction to Foc.3. Investigation into False Panama Disorder.

Recommendations were also made with the aimof encouraging participation in IMTP III andensuring that the results of IMTP phases I and II areput to good use. Training in evaluation protocols isa priority, and the use of varieties with establisheddisease-tolerance by farmers should be promoted.

24


Leaf spot disease onMusa acuminata inIndia. (Photo:S. Uma, NRCB)

Nematology working groupResults from research carried out by theDépartement Amélioration des méthodes pourl’innovation scientifique at CIRAD (CIRAD-AMIS) in1999 confirm that Radopholus similis may bedivided into two genetically distinct groups.Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)markers were used to analyse genetic diversity ofnematode populations in India, Zanzibar, Uganda,Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea,Martinique and Costa Rica. A genetic closenesswas evident between populations in India, Zanzibarand Ghana, when compared to populations from theAmericas, Nigeria and Cameroon. Furthermorethere is evidence from multiple samples taken fromCameroon, that the genetic diversity betweenpopulations is very low, suggesting that theintroduction of nematodes into the country mayhave been a single event occurring in the relativelydistant past.

The results of the genetic analysis using AFLPmarkers support previous findings using randomamplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) or enzyme (e.g.phosphoglucose isomerase) markers. Althoughmore reliable, the technique employing AFLPmarkers is somewhat labour-intensive. For simpleanalyses of genetic diversity, RAPD and enzymemarkers may be used with confidence.

Research on new methodsfor Musa improvementA large part of the present focus on improving Musavarieties through genetic transformation is devotedto the establishment of target materials, namelyembryogenic cell suspensions (ECS). At present twomethods are being explored at KUL with financialsupport from DGIC. The first method involves theuse of a shoot-tip culture, where the embryogenicpotential originates from highly proliferatingmeristematic tissue. The second method derivesmaterial capable of embryogenesis in the form ofimmature male flowers straight from flower buds.Both types of explant are then induced to form anembryogenic callus, from which somatic embryosmay develop.

Progress in the establishment of ECSProliferating meristem culturesThe prolonged use of high doses of benzyladenine(BA), required for adequate proliferation of meristemshoots at the first stage of ECS preparation, canbring about an undesirable decrease in somaticembryogenesis at later stages in the procedure.Alternative media, including elevated sugar level,Paclobutrazol (naphtaleneacetic acid ethyl ester)and shock treatment with BA, have not provedviable. However, higher proliferation rates have been

obtained from meristems isolated from in vitro plantsrather than from long term meristem cultures.

Six new varieties have been introduced to theresearch programme. The results of the introductionof nearly 9000 scalps on embryogenesis inductionmedium during the course of 1998 and 1999 areshown in Table 2.

The frequency of embyogenesis is low (0.4-2%).Grande Naine and Williams JD presented the highestsuccess rates. En masse inductions of 250 to 1000scalps provided better chances of obtaining good cellsuspensions. Several ECS have been obtained fromGrande Naine and Williams JD, one with very goodregeneration potential will be cryopreserved. The ITCBurro CEMSA clone has not produced anembryogenic response since the early 1990s.However, researchers at INIVIT have succeeded inproducing embryogenic complexes from maleflowers. Future attempts will, therefore, focus on maleflowers in the first place and on newly establishedmeristem cultures in the second place. Likewise, littlesuccess has been achieved with Calcutta 4 andhighland bananas. The only highland banana varietyto have produced an embryogenic response isNakitengwa. The cultures produced are vulnerable toa lethal tissue blackening either at meristemproliferation or scalp induction stages. However, theperformance of highland bananas and plantains wasbetter than previous years. Orishele scalps producedembryogenic complexes for the first time.

Despite the low success rate, a number of ECSwere successfully developed in 1999. Agbagbascalps from April 1998 resulted in an ECS inFebruary 1999. The suspension proved highlyregenerative until July 1999, when mitotic activitysuddenly ceased. New suspensions have beenestablished from back-ups. An Obino l’Ewai scalp

25


from June 1998 developed distinct embryos, someat a point of producing cotyledons, in January 1999.However, the embryos proved too well developed toestablish an ECS. Two ECS have been establishedfrom scalps of Orishele after five months oninduction medium. Regeneration trials are now inprocess.

Trials on male flower budsPrevious trials on male flower buds of GrandeNaine and Mbwazirume used material which hadtravelled for at least three days from the field andfailed to provide good quality suspensions. Thesuspensions from Grande Naine material consistedalmost entirely of somatic embryos with fewembryogenic clusters. Almost all Mbwazirumecultures succumbed to blackening.

Further work was carried out in 1999 by KULresearchers, using fresh flower buds harvestedstraight from the field. From the 210 Grande Nainemale flower buds harvested at Instituto Canario deInvestigaciones Agrarias (ICIA) in Tenerife, 6% ofthe hands became embryogenic. Amongst theseseven hands produced suitable material forestablishing an ECS. Work is also under way toestablish ECS from Mbwazirume at the East andSouthern Africa Regional Center of IITA (IITA-ESARC) in Uganda.

A number of parameters were investigated,including position of the hand, temperature at whichthe excised explants were incubated, size of maleflower buds and their freshness up to two days old,growth of mother plant in open-air, greenhouse orunder cloth. Hands in the position nine to elevenappeared to be the most responsive. Few othertrends were obvious. There is a suggestion thatopen air plants generated more heterogeneouscomplexes, compared to those protected under

greenhouses or cloth.

Time-evolutionstudiesProliferatingmeristem cultureshave beenphotographedweekly with the aimof capturing themorphologicaldevelopment ofdifferent varieties inorder to gain abetter insight intothe proliferationprocess and toinvestigate whetherthese cultures canbe homogenized.

The development of meristem cultures of Cachaco,and Williams showed clear differences, which maybe explained by the proportions of meristem, cormand leaf tissue present (Figure 7).

However, heterogeneneity can also beexperienced within one explant. The Cachacoculture in figure 7 shows bulbous structurescontaining tiny, yellow-white meristems, groups of compact white meristems, and meristems with a glassy appearance all developing next to eachother. The major increase in tissue volume occurswhen the culture is three or four weeks old.Although the relative growth of meristematic, cormand leaf tissue, may be partly determined by thecultivar type, it seems that it is not solely predictablefrom the morphological nature of the initial explant.

Fortnightly photographs of Brasilero scalps onembryogenesis induction medium have revealedthree main patterns of development. A waterycallus develops in the first few weeks, where leafprimordia were present. Yellow and whitemeristematic globules appear at the surface ofthe scalp between the first and second month. Asecondary callus develops on the globules in thefollowing months. Where a successfulembryogenic response was achieved, thesecondary callus was initially watery, rather thanopaque yellow or white, but resulted in a complexof embryogenic cells and small transparentsomatic embryos. Over 90% of the scalpsshowed no embryogenic response and only two(0.5%) explants successfully developed anembryogenic callus. Such a low embryogenicresponse rate, therefore, precludes anyconclusions from being drawn on the relationshipbetween morphological characteristics of scalpson embryogenesis induction medium and theirembryogenic capacity.

26


Table 2. Number of scalps inoculated (September 1998 to December 1999) and preliminary results for scalps inoculated for more than 3.5 months.Cultivar Genome Type ITC Number of Responsive % Scalps Highest % scalps Embryogenic ECS

code inoculated scalps forming forming ECS complex scalps ECS in a single trial

Agbagba AAB-p plantain 0111 216 - - - yes yes

Burro CEMSA ABB cooking 1259 504 - - -

Calcutta 4 AA wild diploid --- 864 - - -

Grande Naine AAA Cavendish 1256 984 18 2.0 7.6 yes yes

GN FHIA AAA Cavendish --- 1056 4 0.4 1.4 yes no

GN JD AAA Cavendish --- 1176 - - -

Ingarama AAA-h highland 0160 144 - - -

Mbwazirume AAA-h highland 0084 840 - - -

Nakitengwa AAA-h highland 1180 216 - - - yes

Nyamwihogora AAA-h highland 0086 144 - - -

Obino l'Ewai AAB-p plantain 0109 288 - - - yes no

Orishele AAB-p plantain 0517 480 3 0.7 2.1 yes yes

Williams BSJ AAA Cavendish 0570 456 - - -

Williams JD AAA Cavendish --- 1464 12 0.9 7.3 yes yes

Total 8832 37

Average 0.6 1.3

On reflection, it has been decided that theconsiderable effort to run the time-evolution studieswould be better invested elsewhere. No conclusivepatterns of morphological change were obtained,neither during embryogenesis induction in scalpsnor in proliferating meristem cultures. It may be thecase that attempts to ensure homogeneity ofproliferating meristem cultures are misdirected.Certainly preliminary findings suggest thatheterogeneity in explants is unavoidable, and thatpatterns in the development of morphologicallysimilar explants can be very different andcompletely unpredictable.

Somaclonal variationThe value of the technique of regenerating plantsthrough ECS is dependent on the stability andbehaviour of derived plant material. The frequencyof somaclonal variation in ECS-derived plants isone of the factors under examination. KUL issupplying ECS-derived plants for evaluation atdifferent field-testing stations. As there is a linkbetween somaclonal variation and genotype, aselection of varieties: Three Hand Planty and BiseEgome-1 (AAB), Nakitengwa (AAA), Williams(AAA), and Kamaramasenge (AB), are in theprocess of being tested. ECS-derived plants, alongwith controls, have been sent to the field siteswhere they are usually cultivated; Kamaramasengein South Africa (Institute of Tropical and SubtropicalCrops), Three Hand Planty and Bise Egome-1 inNigeria (IITA), Williams in Israel (Rahan Meristem)and Nakitengwa in Uganda (IITA-ESARC). Resultsare in the process of being gathered. Factorsaffecting trueness to type will be investigated in thefuture.

Genetic transformationThe procedure of genetically transforming plants byAgrobacterium introduction has proved relativelyefficient compared to particle-bombardment. Theelaboration of an efficient protocol has been thefocus of work in 1999.

Transgenic plants have been obtained throughthe introduction of gusA reporter gene intoembryonic cell suspensions (ECS) of the Three

Hand Planty variety. The average frequency oftransformation of cells in four independentexperiments was close to 18 plants per co-cultivated plate, approximately ten times the rateobtained by particle bombardment (Figure 8).Furthermore, analysis by Southern hybridization,picking up the correct integration of t-DNA,suggests that methods involving Agrobacteriumachieved 100% levels of transformation with low(one or two) numbers of insertion sites. Multipleinsertions of introduced genes are undesirable, asthey can have a gene silencing effect ontransformed plants. Further confirmation of theseresults was provided by a novel anchored PCR-screening method, which revealed 16 out of 20plants contained only one or two insertions, andalso by the observed expression of introducedgenes in individual plants. A second gene, gfp,which encodes the green fluorescent protein (GFP)in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, has beenintroduced into the plantain. GFP expression inresulting transgenic plants is somewhat simpler tomeasure and appears to be at a similarly high(97%) level as that of gusA.

One of the main objectives for future work is toestablish a means to transform banana plantsthrough introducing foreign genes into tissuecultures, rather than cell suspensions, which tendto involve a relatively lengthy preparation with a lowrate of output. Observations of plant regenerationin scalps indicate that it may be possible to side-step embryogenesis and transform scalps directly.Preliminary results are encouraging, with highlevels of transient gusA expression apparent intransformed scalps. Selection and regeneration ofplants from transgenic scalps will now beattempted.

27


Figure 7.Development ofhighly proliferatingmeristem cultures ofWilliams (top) andCachaco (bottom)

Figure 8.Untransformedcontrol cells (a) andtransformedembryogenic cellclusters (b) of theplantain varietyThree Hand Plantyafter two months ofculture on selectivemedium in thepresence of50 mg/L geneticin.a b

Introduction

Bananas and plantains are one of the world’s mostimportant food crops. Plantains and a wide rangeof other cooking and dessert banana varietiesprovide a staple food for millions of people in thedeveloping countries of the tropics, while exportedbananas are ranked as the world’s most valuablefruit crop. This article examines the nutritional valueof this popular, multi-purpose crop, providinginformation on the chemical composition of the fruitand comparing its nutritional value with otherstarchy staples and fruits.

The nutritional value of any food depends on awide range of variables, such as its ripeness, theclimatic conditions under which it is grown, thequality of the soil, and of particular importancehere –the variety. In addition, importantdifferences result from the method of preparation– frying in contrast to boiling for example. Furthervariation can be introduced according to thetechniques used for analysing the exact nutrientcontent of the food. Given these possible sourcesof error and variation, the data provided in thispaper should be taken as ‘best estimates’ basedon a range of data sources.

Nutritive value of bananaSuzanne Sharrock and Charlotte Lusty

Preparing aPhilippine dish called “Maruya” with deep-fried Sababananas dipped in batter.(Photo: G. Molina,INIBAP)

Chemical compositionThe pulp of a ripe banana is essentially a sugar-rich, easily-digested food. The cooked banana isnutritionally similar to the potato. It contains about70% water; solid material is mostly carbohydrate(27%); fat (0.3%) and protein (1.2%) contents aregenerally low. In energy terms, each gramprovides one calorie. Eleven vitamins have beenrecorded and the fruit is considered a goodsource of vitamins A, B1, B2 and C (Table 1).

The main difference between a banana and aplantain is moisture content. The plantainaverages about 65% moisture and the bananaabout 83%. Since hydrolysis, the process bywhich starches are converted to sugars, actsfastest in fruit of high moisture content, starchesare converted to sugars faster in bananas than inplantains. Many cooking bananas have moisturecontents that fall in between plantains anddessert bananas. These varieties can be cookedwhen not completely ripe, but will also ripensufficiently to be eaten raw.

CarbohydratesThe energy value of a food derives from the sumof its carbohydrate, fat and protein content. In thecase of banana and plantain, the carbohydratefraction is by far the most important. The sugarsand starches that make up this fraction arepresent in varying concentrations according to thestate of the fruit’s ripeness. The major changeduring the ripening process in both bananas andplantains is the conversion of starch to sugar.

In unripe plantains, starch comprises over 80%of the dry weight of the pulp. The two maincomponents of this starch are amylose andamylopectin, present in a ratio of around 1:5.Sugars comprise only about 1.3% of total drymatter in unripe plantains, but this rises to around17% in the ripe fruit (Ogazi, 1995). In bananas,starch levels in the unripe fruit are around 20%,and this declines to 1-2% in fully ripe fruit, while atthe same time the soluble sugar increases fromless than 1% to 20%. During ripening, the sugarsare in the approximate ratio of glucose 20 :fructose 15 : sucrose 65. Only traces of othersugars are found (Simmonds, 1966). As there is aclose correlation between the starch-sugar ratioand peel colour, the ripening process is marked bythe peel turning yellow.

The high sugar content in a ripe banana isunusual in a fresh fruit. It supplies almost doublethe energy of an apple and nearly three times thatof citrus fruits (Table 1).

FibreNon-starch polysaccharides (collectively known asfibres) include crude fibre, cellulose, pectic

substances, hemicellulose and otherpolysaccharides. Unripe plantain pulp has a totalof 3.5% dry matter as cellulose and hemicelluloseand therefore constitutes a good source of dietaryfibre.

ProteinIn relation to dry weight, total protein value ofplantains is around 3.5% in ripe pulp, slightly lessin unripe fruit and in bananas. As a starchy staplefood, plantains supply about 1 g protein/100gedible portion (Table 1). As a healthy adultrequires about 0.75 g protein/kg/day, plantainsalone cannot meet adult protein needs. The aminoacids with the highest concentrations in plantainsare arginine, aspartate and glutamine. The mostlimiting amino acid is methionine, and sincesoybean is relatively rich in this, plantain andsoybeans make a good nutritious combination.

FatsThe fat content of plantains and bananas is verylow, less than 0.5%, and so fats do not contributemuch to the energy content. Although the totallipid content remains essentially unchanged duringripening, the composition of fatty acids, especiallywithin the phospholipid fractions has beenobserved to change, with a decrease in theirsaturation (Ogazi, 1996).

VitaminsBananas and plantains are a good source ofvitamins A (carotene), B (thiamin, niacin andriboflavin and B6) and C (ascorbic acid) (Table 2).Processing and cooking will affect the vitamincontent, thus bananas eaten ripe provide a bettersource of vitamins than cooked bananas and

Table 1. Nutritional values for the plantain and banana (per 100 g raw edible portion) from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient database (http://www.nal.usda.gov).

Banana Plantain Sweet Potato Cassava Applepotato

Water (g) 74.26 65.28 72.84 78.96 59.68 83.93

Energy (kcal) 92 122 105 79 160 59

Protein (g) 1.03 1.3 1.65 2.07 1.36 0.19

Fat (g) 0.48 0.37 0.30 0.10 0.28 0.36

Carbohydrate (g) 23.43 31.89 24.28 17.98 38.05 15.25

Calcium (mg) 6 3 22 7 16 7

Iron (mg) 0.31 0.6 0.59 0.76 0.27 0.18

Potassium (mg) 396 499 204 543 271 115

Sodium (mg) 1 4 13 6 14 0

Vitamin C (mg) 9.1 18.4 22.7 19.7 20.6 5.7

Thiamin (mg) 0.045 0.052 0.066 0.088 0.087 0.017

Riboflavin (mg) 0.100 0.054 0.147 0.035 0.048 0.014

Niacin (mg) 0.540 0.686 0.674 1.484 0.854 0.077

Vitamin A (IU) 81 1127 20063 0 25 53

Saturated fats (g) 0.185 0.143 0.064 0.026 0.074 0.058

Monounsaturated fats 0.041 0.032 0.011 0.002 0.075 0.015

Polyunsaturated fats (g) 0.089 0.069 0.132 0.043 0.048 0.105

plantains. In their raw state, plantains are actuallyricher in vitamin C than bananas. In comparisonwith other starchy staples, vitamin C content issimilar to sweet potato, cassava and potato.Vitamin A levels vary within and between varieties.Plantains provide a better source of vitamin A thanmost other staples. The potato, cassava andcereals provide virtually no vitamin A at all.Vitamin B is present in significant quantities inbanana beer, a brew widely drunk in the highlandsof Eastern Africa. This is because the yeast usedin brewing is high in B vitamins.

MineralsAlthough bananas and plantains do not provide aparticularly good source of several importantminerals in human nutrition, such as calcium, ironand iodine, they are notably high in potassium andlow in sodium.

Nutritive value

Source of energyRipe bananas are one of the most rapidly digestedfoods (Table 3). Eating several ripe bananasprovides a readily available supply of hundreds ofcalories. For this reason, bananas arerecommended to people who need large amountsof glucose in their blood to maintain adequate

levels of muscle action. This includes particularlysports players and manual labourers.

Value as a staple foodA sedentary adult has an energy requirement ofaround 2,400 calories per day. If this is all to besupplied from bananas or plantains, it wouldmean eating about 24 fruit per day. Such a dietwould by itself be unsatisfactory, being deficientin fat and protein, but it would be balanced by theaddition of abundant milk.

The energy density of bananas and plantainsis, in fact, fairly typical of other starchy staples,but in comparison with cereals they do badly. Intheir dry state, rice, wheat flour and maize allhave nearly triple the energy value of plantains.

However, the amount of water absorbed duringpreparation has a major impact on energy density.Plantains are considered palatable at a lowerwater content than maize, thus boiled and mashedbanana or plantain may prove to be a higherenergy staple than maize porridge (Chandler,1995). Similarly, the calorie value of rice drops byalmost two thirds when boiled, to only 123kcal/100g. If plantain is prepared by frying, the oilused will considerable boost its energy value.

e.g. energy value/100g: raw green fruit: 112 kcal

boiled fruit: 122 kcal

ripe fried fruit: 267 kcal

(Chandler, 1995)

Protein valueAs mentioned above, plantains are low in proteincontent. Such deficiency is likely to be mostsignificant for growing children. Small children have a proportionally higher energy and proteinneed than do adults and yet they have a lowercapacity to take in foods. For example, a boy of 2-3 years needs an estimated daily average energyintake of around 1,350 kcal. In plantain terms, thismeans, 1 kg of food, but this will only provide 10 gof the 15 g of protein recommended. Therefore achild living on an unsupplemented plantain dietmust accommodate over a kilogram of the fruit perday. This may be difficult for a three-year-old

Table 2. Percentage of U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals provided by 100 gof banana (From Byers Food Nutritional Fact Bananas.http://byersfood.com/nutrition/bananas.html).

Vitamins Minerals

Vitamin % Mineral %

B6 29 Magnesium 7

C 15 Copper 6

A < 2 Iron 2

Folacin 5 Phosphorus 2

Thiamin 3 Zinc 6

Riboflavin 5

Niacin 3

Cooking bananas inthe Philippines forselling at market.(Photo: G. Molina,INIBAP)

stomach. For children, therefore, it is especiallyimportant that a plantain diet is complemented byother foods of greater energy and protein density,beans or meat for example. This is normally thecase. Where starchy bananas provide the staplefood, it is customary for them to be prepared withanother food or with a sauce (Chandler, 1995).

Therapeutic valueRipe bananas, being one of the most easilydigested foods (Table 3), are widely used in thenutrition of infants and of people suffering fromvarious intestinal disorders. Bananas also have aspecial place in diets low in fats, cholesterol andsalt. Sodium is present in trace amounts while thepotassium level is around 400 mg/100g pulp.Because of the low lipid and high energy value,bananas are recommended for obese andgeriatric patients. Bananas are useful for thetreatment of peptic ulcers, infant diarrhoea, incoeliac disease (sufferers of this disease normallyhave a marked intolerance to carbohydrates, butare able to digest bananas readily) and in colitis.The high carbohydrate and low fat content of thebanana makes it suitable for low fat diets.

Blood pressureCertain compounds in banana behave likeangiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.ACEs govern the release of angiotensin-2, asubstance which has the effect of causing a risein blood pressure through the constriction ofblood vessels. Indian researchers report the ACE-inhibiting properties in six varieties of bananas.This finding confirms earlier studies in USAsuggesting that potassium-rich foods such asbanana help reduce blood pressure. In tests inIndia, two bananas a day resulted in 10% drop inblood pressure within a week (Anon, 1999).

Anti-nutritional factorsMany starchy staples contain small amounts ofpotentially toxic substances and anti-nutritionalfactors such as trypsin inhibitors. For example,cassava contains toxic cyanogenic glycosidesand the potato, glycoalkaloids. In contrast,bananas and plantains do not contain significantlevels of any toxic compounds. They do howevercontain high levels of serotonin, dopamine andother biogenic amines. Dopamine is responsiblefor the enzymic browning of sliced bananas.Reports that serotonin intake at high levels fromplantain is implicated in the aetiology ofendomyocardial fibrosis (EMF), a thickening ofthe heart wall (Foy and Parratt, 1960), have now

been largely discounted (FAO, 1990).

Global nutritionHumans have been gaining nutrients frombananas for several thousand years. For the lasthundred years it has been one of the few foodcrops to be enjoyed on a truly worldwide scale, onthe tables of families, from the highest-income tothe lowest in all parts of the world. Its texture,taste, its convenience, ease to eat, and low costto grow, as well as its nutritional value, have allcontributed to this success. Whether sweet orsavoury the banana has a considerable, iffrequently undervalued, role to play in globalhuman nutrition.

References

Anon. 1999. Two is enough - really. Sweet tidings on treatinghigh blood pressure. Asiaweek March 19, 1999.

Chandler S. 1995. The nutritional value of bananas. Pp; 486-480 in Bananas and Plantains (S. Gowen, ed.).Chapman & Hall, UK.

FAO. 1990. Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in humannutrition. FAO, Rome, Italy.

Foy and Parratt. 1960. A note on the presence ofnoradrenaline and 5-hydroxytriptamine in plantain.J. Pharm. Pharmacol (12): 360-364.

Ogazi P.O. 1996. Plantain: production, processing andutilisation. Paman and Associates Ltd., Nigeria.

Simmonds N.W. 1966. Bananas. 2nd ed. Longman,London, UK.

Table 3. The duration of digestion for diverse foods.Food type Minutes

Ripe bananas 105

Courgette 105

Haricot beans 150

Orange 165

Milk 165

Roast mutton 195

Cooked eggs 210

Apple 210

Cabbage 270

Roast pork 320

Selling “turon” (Saba bananas wrapped in flour andsugar) and banana-cue (sugar-coated, deep-fried Sababananas) in the Philippines. (Photo: G. Molina, INIBAP)


INIBAP around the world

Latin America and the CaribbeanTraining and TechnologyPlantain production technologies developed inColombia were transferred to four countries withinthe region in training courses, which were attendedby 240 participants.

Organic banana productionFor the first time, stakeholders involved at all levelsof organic banana production and marketing,gathered in the Caribbeanto discuss the potentialof this type ofproduction forsmall-holderfarmers in theregion. Theworkshopprovided an

opportunity to learn from the extensiveexperience of farmers in the DominicanRepublic.

Asia and the PacificTransfer of expertiseThe National Taiwan University harbours a precioussource of specialist knowledge in virus research in theregion. An opportunity to benefit from this experience wasgiven to technicians in Sri Lanka during a three-day trainingcourse on virus indexing led by Taiwanese virologists.

Objectives: To strengthen NARS ability to conduct research and develop technologies for

the improved production of banana and plantain,and facilitate their adoption by farmers.

Virus index trainingin Sri Lanka. (Photo:G. Molina, INIBAP)

Packing organicbananas in theDominican Republic(Photo: S. Sharrock,INIBAP)

Banana taxonomyCurators of germplasm collections in the region met together toconsolidate a common classification of banana cultivars. A catalogue of

banana names and synonyms is now beingpublished and will contribute significantly togermplasm management and research.

Eastern and Southern AfricaOn-farm conservationA new project has commenced in the Great Lakesregion, aiming to analyse the factors affectingbanana diversity maintained in farmer’s fields and toencourage the conservation of these resourcesthrough their utilization.

West and Central AfricaPlantains are also city-dwellersBanana and plantain are commonly found growing incities. They are easy to manage and fruit all yearround. Improved varieties and multiplicationtechnologies are being introduced into three WestAfrican cities in order to boost the yields of urbanbanana agriculture.

Farming bananas inTanzania. (Photo: S.Sharrock, INIBAP)

Bananas growing in Douala, Cameroon.(Photo: E. Akyeampong, INIBAP)

Latin America and theCaribbean

LACNET becomes MUSALACThe Regional Network for Latin America and theCaribbean (LACNET) is to be re-launched inJune 2000 as the Plantain and Banana Researchand Development Network for Latin America andthe Caribbean (MUSALAC). The change of namereflects a recent move to establish the regionalnetwork within the framework of an appropriatebody in the region. Foro Regional de Investigacióny Desarrollo Tecnológico Agropecuario paraAmérica Latina y el Caribe (FORAGRO) will dulyform the platform for MUSALAC.

The agreement of cooperation, upon which theMUSALAC network will be operating, wasformulated at the annual Steering Committeemeeting in Havana, Cuba, attended by 35scientists from 14 countries. INIBAP will continueto support the network by providing a secretariat.

A new national networkA new Musa network was launched in Venezuela,created under the auspices of the Fondo Nacionalde Investigaciones Agropecuarias - CentroNacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias(FONAIAP-CENIAP). This represents a significantstep towards strengthening coordination at anational level. The first meeting of networkmembers has already taken place, with financialsupport from INIBAP.

New projectsSeven agreements were put in place in 1999between INIBAP and network partners to conductvarious activities with the support of the UKDepartment for International Development (DFID)(Table 1).

TrainingSeveral training events took place in the region withthe involvement or sponsorship of INIBAP. Courses

on various aspects of plantain production wereorganized in Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela andDominican Republic, and were attended by240 participants in all. One of the chief aims ofthese courses was to transfer technology developedat CORPOICA in Colombia to other countries in theregion.

Organic Banana Production in PeruThe cooperation between the Peruvian governmentand INIBAP enters its second year. Close to1000 ha of bananas are being rehabilitated usingorganic farming techniques. The first batch ofbananas are expected to be ready for export in thebeginning of 2000. INIBAP continues to coordinatetraining and provide technical advice. Two courseson “Organic Banana Production” took place in Juneand were attended by nearly 200 farmers andtechnicians. The experience attained from theproject will provide a sure foundation for organicbanana production elsewhere in the region.

Organic bananas workshop in the Dominican RepublicA meeting was organized by INIBAP, in partnershipwith the CAB-International (CABI), Centro para elDesarrollo Agropecuario y Forestal, Inc. (CEDAF),and Technical Center for Agricultural and RuralCooperation (CTA), for all parties involved in theproduction and marketing of bananas in theCaribbean. The aim was to focus on the potentialof organic bananas as an alternative product forsmall-scale farmers, in the light of World TradeOrganization rules regarding preferential bananatrade with European countries. Experience in theDominican Republic has shown that organicproduction can result in increased revenues forsmall- and medium-scale farmers.

INIBAP and Instituto Canario de InvestigacionesAgrarias (ICIA)Various activities, supported by Instituto Nacionalde Investigaciones Agrícolas (INIA), took placeunder the agreement of joint research andreciprocal scientific exchange between ICIA, inTenerife, and INIBAP. Six LACNET scientistsvisited ICIA. Information was shared on irrigationand drainage, agricultural extension, nematodes,white fly and industrial utilization of banana andplantain by-products. A workshop was alsoorganized with the help of the regionalcoordinator for LACNET on the “Potential ofCooking Bananas for the Subtropics”. Expertsfrom all four regions shared their experiences.

Introducing new bananas into NicaraguaSince 1996 Universidad de León (UNAN-León)and Vlaamse Vereniging voorOntwikkelingsamenwerking en TechnischeBijstand (VVOB) have been running a project in

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Table 1. Newly funded projects in the region.Institute Project

Ministerio de Agricultura, Cuba Genetic stability of banana clones derived from cell suspensions

Colegio de Postgraduados, Universidad Resistance to Mycosphaerella fijiensis (FHIA-20 Autónoma de Chapingo, Mexico and FHIA-21)

Centro Agronómico Tropical de Effect of organic amendments, a biological nematicide Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), and a chemical nematicide to control Radopholus similisCosta Rica in a banana plantation (Musa AAA)

CATIE, Costa Rica Multiplication and maintenance of genetic material

Universidad del Tolima, Colombia Control of black Sigatoka in plantain cultivars

Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadéría, Non-chemical nematode control alternatives in the Costa Rica plantain variety Curraré in the Atlantic region of Costa Rica

Instituto de Biotecnología de Plantas, Activities to increase plantain production for local Cuba consumption in Cuba using black Sigatoka resistant

cultivars generated through non-conventional methods.

Nicaragua with the technical assistance of KULand contributions of germplasm from the INIBAPgenebank. The project’s main aim is to seethrough the introduction of new banana varieties,from validating and distributing new material toteaching cultivation and multiplication techniquesto farmers in the field.

Technicians at the UNAN tissue culturelaboratory have benefited from training andexperience. Eventually, part of the annual plantproduction will be sold in order to sustain therunning of the laboratory. In 1999, 6000 plantswere produced ready for planting in the rainyseason. Farmers are provided the plants for freein exchange for a single sucker one year later. Inpreparation for 2000, 16 varieties are beingmultiplied to produce at least 15 000 plants.

Workshops are being organized, in collaborationwith the extension unit at Centro de EnseñanzaTécnica Agropecuaria (CETA-Chinandega), totrain farmers in Musa production and pestmanagement. More than 200 people attended theworkshops in 1999. Follow-up visits and impactassessment studies are under way.

Research at Corporación Bananera Nacional (CORBANA)INIBAP currently sponsors, in conjunction withVVOB, the position of an associate scientist atCORBANA. Since 1998, a number of studies onnematode populations have been initiated with theultimate aim of achieving sustainability and highproductivity in banana production with minimal useof nematicides.

In 1999, populations of Radopholus similis andPratylenchus sp. were isolated from banana-growing areas in Costa Rica, and multiplied invitro in order to compare their pathogenicity andgrowth. The results suggest that by inoculatingplants with R. similis at a density of 500nematodes per 1.8 l of soil substrate, the highestrates of nematode reproduction may be attained.Further work is under way to assess thecorrelation between nematode numbers, rootdamage and yield decreases. Experiments havealso begun to identify the relationship betweencontact time of parasite and host with degree ofinfestation.

The INIBAP-CORBANA segregating populationproject has moved into full swing with the arrival ofthe first seeds, resulting from a cross betweenCalcutta 4 and Pisang Berlin, from EMBRAPA. Ofthe 150 seeds received, 130 successfully grew invitro. From these, plantlets were selected formultiplication and will serve as future female andmale plants for characterization and crossing.

An INIBAP intern at CORBANA began work inthe Biotechnology Laboratory in 1999. One of themain activities has been to micropropagate plants

to support various experiments, including those onnematode growth described above. The effects ofdifferent sterilization techniques on the pH oftissue culture medium are also being investigated.

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Organic Bananas WorkshopTo assess the prospects for organic banana production and marketing,specific points for immediate action were identified during the meeting,which are summarized as follows:1. Carry out feasibility studies with farmers on the socioeconomic and

agronomic potential for organic banana production in the WindwardIslands.

2. Put in place further variety evaluation trials.3. Initiate research on organic banana management systems, especially

with respect to black Sigatoka and soil fertility.4. Set up demonstration farms.5. Investigate standards (e.g. ISO 14000 & 9000, FAO-CODEX, IFOAM).6. Carry out a supply and demand study.7. Establish a forum for discussion between producers and retailers.8. Put in place a Web site.9. Approach potential funding bodies.10. Produce proceedings of the meeting, including a research agenda.

High densityplantain productionin Nicaragua.(Photo: D. Jones,consultant)

A practical guide onplantain production,used in trainingcourses.

Asia and the Pacific

INIBAP regional officeThe international status of

the INIBAP regional office inthe Philippines was formally

recognized in an agreement between theGovernment of the Philippines and IPGRI. Theagreement was signed by the Secretary to theDepartment of Foreign Affairs, Domingo L. Siazon,and the Director of INIBAP, Emile Frison. Theleading role played by the Philippines in researchand its collaborative work within the INIBAPnetwork provides strong foundations for theestablishment of the office and coordination ofregional activities and events.

Ninth Steering Committee meetingMembers of the Asia and Pacific RegionalNetwork (ASPNET) Steering Committee gatheredin China for the ninth annual meeting. The chiefconcerns, which arose as common issues with allcountries present, were to counteract pests anddiseases and obtain improved hybrids andvarieties. Several priority activities were identified,including the following:• establishment of a breeding programme in the

region, with INIBAP facilitating and providingtechnical advice,

• continuation and possible extension of collectingmissions to new countries,

• adoption of the classification scheme proposedby the “Banana Cultivar names and Synonyms”workshop,

• securing of support for a regional germplasmcentre in the South Pacific,

• training in virus-indexing and IMTP Phase IIIevaluation procedures,

• determination of ploidy levels of germplasm inVietnam, China and Indonesia.

TrainingHorticultural Research and Development Institute(HORDI) and INIBAP held a workshop on“Banana Virus Disease Management in Sri Lanka”with support from DFID. More than 60 scientistsand policy-makers gathered to review the status ofbanana viral diseases in Sri Lanka and toformulate plans of action for their eradication andcontrol. According to recent HORDI surveys, about80% of banana crops in Sri Lanka are infected byviruses, especially banana bract mosaic virus andbanana bunchy top virus. In an effort toconsolidate better integrated pest management,recommendations were put forward to establish anational disease management programme,including an eradication and rehabilitation

programme based on the use of disease-freeplanting materials. For this purpose a seedcertification programme should be in place andthe Virology Laboratory at HORDI and theAdaptation Research Station at Colombo shouldact as virus-indexing centres. To put the recommendations straight into practise,a three-day training course on virus-indexing wasorganized as part of the same event. Virologistsfrom the National Taiwan University and HORDItrained 22 researchers from different tissue culturelaboratories in enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA) and PCR-based indexingtechniques.

At a workshop in Thailand, funding from Taiwanallowed the national coordinators of INIBAP’sRegional Information System for Banana andPlantain in Asia and the Pacific (RISBAP) to betrained on the newly improved MUSALIT andBRIS database package. Discussions focused onhow different countries might improve informationgathering and submission to centralized dataholdings. One obstacle seems to be thetranslation of non-English literature fromvernacular languages, especially in China,Vietnam and Thailand. Bangladesh and Sri Lankasuffer from a lack of computer facilities.

Regional multiplication programmeThe aims of setting up regional capacity tomultiply and distribute improved Musa varietiesare being gradually fulfilled. The Secretariat of thePacific Community (SPC) is funded throughASPNET with support from DFID, to producetissue culture plantlets of improved varieties to bedistributed, field-tested and eventually adopted byfarmers in the region.

IMTP varieties recommended for commercial useThe two hybrids, FHIA-01 and FHIA-03, which

showed high performance in the IMTP Phase Itrials, have now been given the official go aheadfor commercial planting in Malaysia. The Ministerof Agriculture for Malaysia, Dr Sulaiman bin HajiDaud, and the Director General of MalaysianAgricultural Research and Development Institute(MARDI), Dr Sharif Ahmad, launched the varietiesin front of the international press during theopening of the “International Seminar andWorkshop on Banana Fusarium Wilt Diseases”.The resistance of these varieties to Fusarium wiltand black Sigatoka allows them to be grown indisease-prone areas, which up until now havebeen left abandoned. The intention is to add tothe diversity of bananas grown in the region,rather than replace either local or Cavendishvarieties. If the new varieties are accepted byfarmers, it is hoped that they will bring about anupturn in the local banana industry.

36


The MalaysianMinister ofAgriculture examinesthe many foodproducts from FHIA-01 and FHIA-03. (Photo: G. Molina, INIBAP)

Banana namesA major step has been taken towards unifying thetaxonomy of banana varieties in Southeast Asia.With support from DFID, INIBAP and Bureau ofPlant Industry - Davao National Crop Researchand Development Center (BPI-DNCRDC)sponsored a workshop on “Banana CultivarNames and Synonyms in Southeast Asia” in thePhilippines for curators of germplasm collectionsin the region. By comparing morphological data,pictures and field observations it was possible toestablish where plants known under differentnames in different countries are actually the samevariety. From a list of 296 cultivar names,149 were established as distinct cultivars. A totalof 81 varieties were discovered to be endemic toindividual countries. The varieties and theirdistribution are listed in INFOMUSA (8(2):37-39)and a full report of the workshop results will bepublished in 2000.

The system of nomenclature followed was thatof Cheesman and the International Code ofNomenclature for Cultivated Plants, which uses athree-tier system of species names, genomegroup and variety name. Tidying up the catalogueof banana names has very positive repercussionsfor breeders and the keepers of germplasmcollections, who may now filter out duplicateaccessions more efficiently.

International meeting on Fusarium wiltMalaysia hosted an “International Seminar andWorkshop on Banana Fusarium Wilt Diseases”,which was co-organized by INIBAP and MARDI.The effects of Fusarium on production wereparticularly noted in the Asian and Pacific region,where a very virulent strain of Foc, known as

Tropical Race 4, has appeared in Australia anddevastated new commercial plantings ofCavendish in Malaysia and Indonesia.

As part of the battle against the disease, newtechniques are being developed to establish thegenetic diversity of the fungus and provide apicture of the distribution of virulent strains. Atechnique using DNA amplification fingerprintinghas been found to be speedy and reliable. InTaiwan new resistant varieties have beendeveloped, through the selection of somaclonalvariants, and planted on a commercial level. Theirsuccess, accompanied by a strict regime of usingdisease-free planting material, is believed to havesteered the national banana industry away fromdisaster. The same approach is being tested inMalaysia and South Africa.

Collaboration with Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR)Within the framework of an agreement betweenIPGRI and ICAR in India dating to 1996, INIBAPhas been collaborating with NRCB and NBPGR.Since their workplan on banana research anddevelopment was put into operation, a number ofactivities have taken place to forward their aims ofensuring the conservation and safe movement ofbanana germplasm.

Of the 30 accessions collected during theexploration of Assam, Meghalaya and ArunachalPradesh, 20 are now successfully established inthe field. They have been characterized andevaluated, and half of them are duplicated in vitroat the genebank at NBPGR. The plants fromhigher altitude sites have not established sosuccessfully in the field. An effort will be made torecollect fresh material.

37


A banana boat inChina. (Photo: G.Molina, INIBAP)

As part of the general workplan, INIBAP hassupplied NBPGR with some of the more popularbanana accessions, 114 to date, for massmultiplication and distribution in India. NBPGR willprovide plants to researchers on request. Anumber of these accessions have been passed onto NRCB for characterization, in order to confirmtheir identity and to filter out duplicates. They areat various stages of establishment andcharacterization. The details of those accessionswhich are fully characterized have been providedto INIBAP using MGIS.

Blood disease in IndonesiaINIBAP is funding RIF, through support from DFIDto evaluate a management strategy to combatblood disease in Lampung in Sumatra. Thestrategy is currently in use against Bugtok, abacterial fruit rot disease, in the Philippines.Sanitising tools and early removal of the male

flower bud has helped to bring down the incidenceof infection quite dramatically, and the practiseshave been accepted by Philippine farmers. Thereis hope that they may also be useful in Indonesia,where blood disease, a similar disease to Bugtok,is spreading and causing serious damage to cropsof cooking bananas. The outcome of the first yearof trials is promising. The measures have provedeffective against blood disease and farmersappear to be satisfied with the results. The aimnow will be to expand the programme to otherparts of Indonesia and assess the overalleffectiveness of the strategy in managing thedisease.

New work on leaf spot diseasesResearchers from Asian countries are workingtogether to gain an understanding of leaf spotdiseases in the region. INIBAP will collaboratewith national research organizations to investigatethe source and distribution of leaf spot diseases inIndia, China, Malaysia and the Philippines. Theprevalence of black Sigatoka, Mycosphaerellafijiensis, in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesiaand South Pacific Islands is well known. Recently,however, Sigatoka-like symptoms have beenobserved in countries, where, so far, the diseasehas not been recorded. The pathogen causingthese symptoms has been isolated and identifiedfrom samples taken from India, China, Sri Lanka,Malaysia and Thailand. Its scientific name isMycosphaerella eumusae. There are seriousconcerns over the disease, given the virulence ofits cousin, black Sigatoka.

Transgenic bananasWithin the PROMUSA framework, INIBAP hasinitiated a collaborative project, with funding fromDFID, to evaluate transgenic bananas fromQueensland University of Technology (QUT) atthe University of the Philippines at Los Baños(UPLB). The screenhouse at the Institute ofPlant Breeding (IPB/UPLB) has been speciallyimproved to meet biosafety standards. Thetransgenic varieties will be tested for theirresistance to banana bract mosaic virus andbanana bunchy top virus.

Screening germplasm in VietnamThe relationship between bananas andnematodes in Vietnam is being investigated at theVietnam Agricultural Science Institute (VASI) withfinancial support from the Australian Centre forInternational Agricultural Research (ACIAR) andVlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR). AnINIBAP/VVOB Associate Scientist is undertakingvarious activities, including:• a nematode survey on commercial banana

plantations,

38


Manjahaji - a varietycollected in India.(Photo: S. Uma,NRCB)

The exploration team in India. (Photo: S. Uma,NRCB)

• establishing an in vitro culture of Pratylenchuscoffeae,

• field and greenhouse experiments to screenVietnamese varieties for resistance or toleranceto nematodes.Collecting missions in Vietnam in 1994 and

1995 have provided more than 80 varieties andwild species, which may harbour forms ofresistance or tolerance. Preliminary screeningindicates that none of the 17 genotypes testedshowed significant resistance to Meloidogynespp., but that the varieties Tieu Xahn (ITC1406;AAA), Tay But (ITC1367; AA) and Tien(ITC1368; AA) showed signs of resistance toP. coffeae. Experiments in the greenhousesuggested that infection with P. coffeae had nosignificant effect on the performance of plants,whilst Meloidogyne resulted in an increase in theweight of the root system. The effects of thesenematode infestations on yield from economicallyimportant plantations are in the process of beingassessed.

Root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., lesionnematodes, Pratylenchus coffeae, and spiralnematodes, Helicotylenchus multicinctus, werefound during the survey of banana plantations.Up to the present, Radopholus similis, the mostserious nematode pest, has only been found oncoffee or durian plants in Vietnam. As part of thefuture workplan, further surveys will check anypossible occurrence of Radopholus on bananas.

Public awareness and publicationsEfforts of raising the public profile of ASPNET andRISBAP, through publications and publicawareness, brought about considerable successesin 1999. The number of issues of the RISBAPbulletin have doubled since last year, withpublications coming out in March, May, August,October, November and December. A total of 411publications, including 17 additional titles relatingto research in the region and INIBAP publications,were distributed in 1999. ASPNET have received495 contributions of bibliographic information fromsix different member countries. The data havebeen imported into the RISBAP database and willbe submitted to INIBAP for incorporation intoMUSALIT.

Finally the local media were attracted to themeetings on Fusarium wilt in Malaysia and Virusmanagement and training in Sri Lanka. Theworkshop in the Philippines on Banana CultivarNames and Synonyms brought about a widerinternational interest. United Press Internationaljournalists covered the event and the ASPNETcoordinator was interviewed live on BritishBroadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio. The maincause of curiosity to the outside world was the factthat so many banana varieties existed.

Eastern andSouthern Africa

Fifth Steering Committee meetingRepresentatives of Banana Research Network forEastern and Southern Africa (BARNESA) SteeringCommittee convened at the Kenya AgriculturalResearch Institute (KARI) for their fifth annualmeeting. It was recommended that the networkshould adopt a more market-orientated approach.A change in the composition of the SteeringCommittee, at present being almost exclusivelyresearchers, will be addressed. The contents ofthe strategic plan also will be reassessed.

Taking advantage of the presence of committeemembers, a training course took place on the useof logical frameworks as a tool for projectdevelopment and management. As one of theexercises, participants drafted a logical frameworkfor a proposed integrated pest management (IPM)project, which has since been accepted forfunding.

A proposal submitted to the European Unionhas resulted in BARNESA being classified as anemerging network within the Association forStrengthening Agricultural Research in East andCentral Africa (ASARECA) portfolio. This willqualify the network for funding to develop linkagesand partnerships between NARS.

Conservation through utilization of bananas andplantains in the Great Lakes regionA project which aims to encourage in situconservation of banana genetic resources throughsustainable utilization was initiated in the GreatLakes region with funds from the IDRC.Researchers will try and uncover the factorsinfluencing farmers’ decisions to conserve ordiscard diversity and find ways of addressing thecauses behind genetic erosion.

The specific objectives are to:• document the genetic diversity of traditional

varieties,• identify effective indicators to characterise the

factors affecting the use of varieties and theagronomic practises of farmers,

39


Members of the BARNESA steeringcommittee. (Photo: E. Karamura,INIBAP)

• support farmers and scientists in the evaluation andconservation of bananavarieties,

• support research andconservation activities at all levels.Planning meetings have

been held in both countriesand a workplan developed.Teams have beenestablished in two sites in both Uganda andTanzania, and a genetic resources specialist and a socioeconomist have been brought into the study.

Introduced banana varieties in Tanzanian fieldsThe successes of the Kagera CommunityDevelopment Programme (KCDP), a Belgium-

40


In situ conservation of plant geneticresources

There are growing pressures on smallholder farmers who maintaingenetic diversity in the form of local cultivars. Increased humanpopulation numbers, poverty, land degradation, environmental changeand the introduction of modern crop varieties have contributed to theerosion of genetic resources in crops. The only way of conserving thedynamic processes of crop evolution and the knowledge surrounding it,is through in situ conservation and utilization of local varieties.In situ conservation has the potential to:• conserve processes of evolution and adaptation of crops to their

environments,• conserve diversity at the level of ecosystem, species, population and

individual,• improve the livelihood of resource-poor farmers,• maintain or increase control and access of farmers over genetic

resources,• integrate farmers into the national plant genetic resources system for

conservation.The project on the Conservation through Utilization of Plantain andBanana in the Great Lakes region of East Africa is linked to a globalproject to strengthen the scientific basis of in situ conservation ofagricultural biodiversity, formulated in 1995 by IPGRI and nine NationalPartners. Its main objectives are:• to support the development of a framework of knowledge on farmer

decision-making processes that influence in situ conservation ofagricultural biodiversity,

• to strengthen national institutions for the planning and implementationof conservation programmes for agricultural biodiversity,

• to broaden the use of agricultural biodiversity and the participation inits conservation by farming communities and other groups.

Data are being collected and analysed on a range of variablesconcerning farmers and their crops. The project is participatory andparties at all levels are represented in its development. More informationmay be obtained from the web site at http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org

Table 2. Report by ACT on the performance of bananas at Makumira and Dioscese Farms in Tanzania.Type of No. plants Months Disease Dessert Frying Beer Cookingbanana growing to set fruit

FHIA-01 79 8 None Possibly Yes No Possibly

FHIA-02 66 8 Yes Yes No No No

FHIA-03 129 8 None Possibly Yes No Yes

Pisang Ceylon 62 8 None Yes No No No

Saba 169 8 or 9 None Possibly Yes No Yes

AACV Rose 155 8 None Yes No Yes No

Yangambi Km 5 204 8 None Yes No Yes Yes

Pelipta 27 8 or 9 None Yes Yes No Yes

Pisang Mas 250 8 or 9 None Yes No Yes Yes

Kluai Namwa 90 8 None Possibly No Yes Possibly

Datil 4 8 None Yes No No Yes

Namwa Khom 40 8 or 9 None Yes No Yes Yes

Cardaba 167 8 or 9 None Yes Yes No Yes

FHIA-17 11 8 or 9 None Yes Yes No Yes

Lidi 84 8 or 9 None Yes No Yes No

Total 1 537

Planting suckers ofimproved varieties in Tanzania (top)(Photo: E. Karamura,INIBAP)

Banana suckers of improved varieties for sale in Biharamulo districtin Tanzania (bottom)(Photo: C. Mbehoma,KCDP)

Tanzanian bilateral programme, have beenreported in the past two Annual Reports. In 1997,15 improved banana varieties, supplied by theINIBAP genebank, were introduced into Kagera,a region which had been experiencing decliningbanana production during a critical period ofpopulation boom. In 1999 a further five newvarieties were made available in the form of25 000 plants obtained through tissue culture atKUL. Collaboration with NGOs, schools, districtextension services, Ministry of Agriculture andfarmers has allowed the KCDP to carry outprogramme activities in all five districts in theregion. This involves setting up means formultiplication, demonstration fields and test plots.

Open days have been organized at whichfarmers and extension workers are able tobecome familiar with and taste samples of theimproved varieties. They can also receive trainingon good husbandry. Planting of the new varietiesstarted on a large scale towards the end of 1999.More than 20 000 suckers have been distributedthrough extension services and weekly markets.The performance of FHIA-17, FHIA-23 andSH3436-9 has been impressive, generating highdemand for planting material. Yangambi Km5,FHIA-01, Pelipita and FHIA-03 also were verypopular. According to local taste the improvedvarieties do not quite match traditional types, butthey are still better appreciated than other staplefoods.

People farming all types of agricultural land,from areas which have suffered high pest anddisease infestations to those experiencingoverproduction, are eager to plant the newvarieties: the input of new genotypes increasingbiodiversity as well as yields. The impact of theintroduction of the new varieties is beingmonitored by the Agricultural Research Institute(ARI-Maruku) and KCDP. They will focus on thenumber and yield of local and improved varietiesin farmer’s fields. The diffusion of new materialindirectly into farmer’s fields from demonstrationfields and test plots is also being monitored.

Further distribution of germplasm in TanzaniaElsewhere in Tanzania KUL is supporting aproject to supply one of the NGOs collaboratingwith KCDP called Action by Churches Together(ACT) in Arusha with new banana germplasmfrom the INIBAP genebank. ACT is responsiblefor multiplying the material and distributingsuckers to farmers. A total of 17 varieties havebeen supplied. Nearly 1500 plants are nowgrowing at two different farms. Trials on the fruithave taken place, and their uses as a dessertbanana, for frying and cooking and for makingbeer have been assessed by the localpopulation (Table 2).

West and CentralAfrica

Musa Research Network for Westand Central Africa (MUSACO) meetingThe third steering committee meeting took placein Côte d’Ivoire. Recommendations were madethat:1.the diversity of Musa in the region be collected,

characterized and documented2.technologies available in the sub-region be

recorded and distributed through fact sheets orother publications

3.a special meeting take place in 2000 to reporton the collection of baseline data and to discussthe development of a regional researchprogramme with a bottom-up approach.The demand for training in characterization

methods, scientific writing, development of logicalframeworks and IPM was also expressed. In anattempt to keep a record of research activities,each country has been given the task of preparinga monograph on current Musa research anddevelopment. Each will also contribute through aquestionnaire to a central database.

TrainingOne of the priority activities identified at thecreation of MUSACO was the establishment ofbaseline information on plantain and bananaproduction. For data to serve their purpose, theyshould be standardized and comparable acrossdifferent geographical areas. As a first step toachieving this goal a six-day course, financed bythe African Development Bank (AfDB) andorganized by INIBAP, IITA and CRBP, took placeto train NARS representatives from differentmember countries in data collection methods.Statistical sampling, accessing secondaryinformation and criteria for planning surveys werecovered. The next step is to seek funding to carryout national surveys.

Evaluation of improved germplasmINIBAP has signed letters of agreement withseven national institutes in the region to carry outevaluations of improved varieties. CRBP isproviding tissue culture plantlets of 11 varieties.Trials will take place, firstly, in Nigeria, the largestproducer in the region, and Gabon, wherebananas are actually imported to help supply thehighest per capita consumption of bananas in theregion.

Centre de recherches régionales sur bananiers etplantains (CRPB)The Tissue Culture Laboratory at CRBP holds 66accessions originating from the INIBAP genebank;

41


these are maintained for multiplication anddistribution within the region. Varieties aredistributed for evaluation, for use by farmers andresearch programmes and for projects, such asthe periurban project described below. In 1999,3370 plantlets were requested (See map).

CRBP is host to an INIBAP intern who isinvolved in attempts to carry out somaticembryogenesis from male flower buds of Galéo,Grande Naine and French Sombre. Theexperiments resulted in limited success. Thepercentage production of embryogenic calluseswas low in some cases, possibly because of non-optimum conditions in the culture room. Theconstruction of a new cold room will help improveconditions for future tests.

Integrated pest management of the banana weevil,Cosmopolites sordidusThe INIBAP/VVOB Associate Scientist seconded toCRBP has been managing a programme since lastyear to develop an integrated pest managementstrategy against the banana weevil borer (Table 3).Four species of weevil are present in smallholders’fields in southwest Cameroon: Cosmopolitessordidus, Metamasius hemipterus, M. sericeus andPollytus melleborgi. Weevil larvae bore into thecorm and weaken the plant, resulting in high plantmortality, reduced bunch weight and reduced handnumber. The most severe infestations are causedby C. sordidus. Plantains appear to be mostsusceptible.

In the laboratory, young plantain suckers,dipped in 20% neem solution have been foundresistant to weevil attack for up to three months.Exposure to neem brings about a decrease in thefecundity of female weevils, rates of ovipositionand hatching of eggs, resulting in a reduction insucker mortality by 25-30% (Figures 1-2).However the toxicity of neem on adult weevils islow compared to other insecticides, which helpsto explain why crushed neem seeds applied to thecrown of the plant has no effect.

Wood ashes, which are regularly used by 30%of households in Cameroon, have proved amoderate repellent but do not decreaseoviposition, hatching or adult survival. Coffeehusks had no effect whatsoever, but hot pepperblocked the hatching of eggs and had a moderaterepellent effect on adults (Figure 3). Acombination of neem and household ash, perhapswith a conventional insecticide or biological agentto control adults, may prove a useful combination.

Tests are in the process of examining theeffectiveness of other forms of control, such aspathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungi andbaited traps, and also the population dynamics ofthe pest, and the presence of resistance in 60banana varieties. Until now, none of the breedingprogrammes has been selecting for weevilresistant genotypes, despite their potential

42


Table 3. Different forms of pest control under trial in southwest Cameroon.

Control Agents/Methods

Biopesticides Neem (Azadirachta indica), wood ashes, coffee husk, hot pepper (Capsicum spp.) and Thitonia spp.

Trapping Pheromone-baited traps

Biological control Fungus Beauveria bassiana, entomopathogenic fungi, entomopathogenic nematodes

Insecticides Fipronil

In-built resistance Varietal early screening method for resistance, field screening under high parasite pressure

Good husbandry Use of clean planting material, hot water treatment or paring suckers, crop rotations

Senegal

Guinea Bissau

Guinea

Côte d'Ivoire

Benin

Congo

Ghana

CRBP

DemocraticRepublic of Congo

Cooking bananas in a city in Guinea.(Photo: E. Akyeampong,INIBAP)

Regional distribution ofplantlets from CRBP

economic value, particularly to smallholders.CRBP, with its strong bias on plantains, is nowtargeting weevil resistance in its breedingprogramme.

Periurban projectThe continuing population rise in urban areas indeveloping countries, has resulted in a flourish ofagricultural planting in every available space.Bananas suit the city life by being easy tomanage and fruiting year-round. However theprocess of removing suckers from mother plantsto obtain new planting material causes abottleneck in production and aids the recurrenceof infestations of pests and diseases. Withassistance from the French government, INIBAPis working on the introduction of high yieldingvarieties, FHIA-18, FHIA-23, CRBP 39 andOrishele, into Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi inGhana and Cotonou in Benin. Farmers are alsobeing taught techniques to speed up theproduction of new planting material using simplemultiplication methods.

Rapid field multiplication of plantainINIBAP is funding multiplication experiments inthe University of Ghana Agricultural ResearchStation which have provided a technique thatcould generate up to 1000 suckers from oneApantu plantain sucker in a single year using justcoconut water. By injecting 6 or 8 ml of coconutwater (an average coconut fruit contains 150 ml ofcoconut water) into the base of a plantain suckeron three alternate days, apical meristem growth isslowed and radial growth is encouraged, resultingin the stimulation of axillary buds to form plantlets.The new suckers can be removed, their cormssplit and sprouted in moist sawdust.

So far the treatment has succeeded on threeplantain varieties, Apem, Apantu and Asamienu.

Work is continuing on other cultivars. Ifsuccessful, the technique will provide a highlypractical method of multiplication in the field thatinvolves very little expense.

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Figure 1. Hatchingof eggs in a 10%solution of differentbiopesticides

Figure 2. Effect ofneem on the fertilityof C. sordidus

Figure 3. Weeviloccurrence on cormpieces treated withbiopesticides atdifferentconcentrations

Signs of weevil damage at the base of the pseudostem.(Photo: S. Sharrock)

MUSADOCFor the first time INIBAP ispublishing a large part of itspublications and databases on

CD-ROM. MUSADOC containsoutputs from 1998 to 1999,

including technical guidelines,proceedings and fact sheets, and the

latest versions of the databases,MUSALIT and BRIS.

http://www.inibap.orgThe new INIBAP Web site islaunched. It gives acomprehensive tour of allINIBAP activities and outputs,and includes the full text of wideselection of publications, accessto the databases MUSALIT andBRIS, and a list of accessionsavailable from the INIBAPgenebank.

Database trainingMembers of RISBAP receivedtraining on the new versions ofMUSALIT and BRIS. Theprocess of informationmanagement has been revisedand new ways to stimulate datacollection are being explored.


Musa information andcommunications

Objective: to make available and accessible a continuous

flow of relevant and high quality Musa information for a wide range ofclients. To improve awareness of theimportance of Musa for sustainabledevelopment and food security.

IntroductionA number of important changes took place in1999, including the introduction of a new positiondevoted to Web management and development.The main activities of the year have been focusedon the development of electronic communicationtools and on increasing the flow of informationfrom regional networks.

Web siteThe end of the year was marked by the launch ofthe new INIBAP Web site in English. Itsdevelopment was a tightly coordinated effort, withcollaboration from IPGRI for layout and design,and from CIRAD for technical input. French andSpanish versions of the site will be available in2000.

For the first time, versions of MUSALIT andBRIS are available on-line and will be regularlyupdated. The full text of a wide selection ofpublications, including the annual report,INFOMUSA, fact sheets, technical guidelines,meeting proceedings etc., may be downloaded. Alist of accessions at the INIBAP genebank is alsoaccessible. A number of products are still to beadded, including MGIS and the Musa thesaurus.

A Web site, whilst providing an important tool forpublic awareness, also keeps track of thenumbers and duration of visits. This provides anautomatic indication of the popularity and uses ofthe site amongst different visitors, and willcontribute to the ongoing evaluation of the impactof INIBAP programmes and products.

MUSADOCFor the first time, most of the publications from1998 and 1999, and all of the technicalguidelines, fact sheets, the latest proceedingsand the databases MUSALIT and BRIS will beavailable electronically in the form of a CD-ROM. This represents a particular effort to reachusers of INIBAP information who do not haveaccess to the Web. The production wasfinancially supported by CTA and technicalassistance was provided by CIRAD. Newpublications and versions of the databases willbe published in this form every year from nowon.

DatabasesBy the end of 1999, MUSALIT, a bibliographicdatabase concerned with all aspects of researchinto banana and plantain, contained a total of5367 abstracts. Over 500 new recordsoriginated from the regional networks, Serviciode Información y Documentación Sobre Bananoy Plátano (SIDBAP) in Latin America andRISBAP in Asia. A special effort also was madeto add new researcher profiles to BRIS, thedatabase of Musa researchers. As the result ofa survey carried out in 1999, more than 150researchers’ details were added or updated.BRIS now holds 824 records of researchers.

Both MUSALIT and BRIS have beenupgraded to run on the Windows version ofCDS/ISIS software, called Winisis. The softwareprovides a more user-friendly environment. Itallows relevant partners to install the databaseson their own computers, to input data andprovide new records back to INIBAP inelectronic format. A training workshop inThailand provided the first opportunity todistribute the database package.

The existence of INIBAP services appears tobe appreciated by a wider audience than everbefore. Queries to the information answeringservice reached an all- time high, with a total of513 requests being dealt with in the year. Theeffects of the launch of the Web site andMUSADOC on the popularity of the service will bemonitored with interest over the course of 2000.

46


In press!F.E. Rosales, S.C. Tripon and J. Cerna (eds).Proceedings to the meeting on the productionof organic banana, held in Costa Rica inJuly 1998 (in English and Spanish).Orjeda, G. 2000 (compil.). Evaluating bananas:a global partnership. Results of IMTP Phase II.

PublicationsIncreasing subscribers also suggest that INIBAPcontinues to achieve significant public outreachthrough its printed publications. Musarama is nowdistributed to 1752 subscribers, and INFOMUSA issent to 1965 subscribers. An additional 1580publications were sent upon request.

A new pest fact sheet on nematodesMeloidogyne incognita and M. javanica was printed.Two sets of proceedings were published. Thesewere on the “Mobilizing IPM for sustainable bananaproduction in Africa” seminar held in South Africa,and the “Bananas and food security” symposium,the first meeting to address socioeconomic aspectsof non-commercial banana production, held inCameroon.

A number of unique works also came out in printfor the first time. In collaboration with FHIA, thebanana score cards of Dr Paul H. Allen have beenbrought out in a 364-page book, as a tribute to hislife’s work.

Financial support from the RockefellerFoundation allowed the Ph.D. thesis of Dr D.A.Karamura, “Numerical taxonomic studies of theEast African Highland Banana (Musa AAA-EastAfrica) in Uganda”, submitted to the University ofReading in January 1998, to be published. Thestudy examines the genetic variation existing in theEast African Highland banana and attempts toestablish a classification and identification system.Finally another life’s work is published in the form ofDr Ken Shepherd’s book on “Cytogenetics of thegenus Musa”. This provides a welcome source ofinformation on an area of research which has been,up until now, much neglected. However, with therecent resurgence of interest and the establishmentof new methodologies to study Musa karyology thisproduction is very timely.

TrainingMembers of RISBAP met for a training workshop inThailand in September. During the workshop thenew versions of MUSALIT and BRIS wereintroduced, and the system whereby data aremanaged was revised and standardized. Eachmember was given the responsibility of ensuringthe establishment of the new approach at a nationallevel. The constraints in setting up informationmanagement and gathering systems at a nationallevel provided a stimulating topic for discussion.

Public awarenessINIBAP staff attended a public awareness trainingsession. The importance was emphasized ofrecognising good opportunities for increasing publicawareness. With the benefits of the training, INIBAP

has since been responsible for a series of features,letters and articles. Publicity on the banana tradedispute between Europe and the USA provided theopportunity to relate the little known fact that themajor proportion of banana production is fordomestic consumption. TV Programmes focusingon bananas, in which INIBAP has been involved orfeatured, were broadcast on Cable News Network(CNN) worldwide, on Vlaamse Radio enTelevisieomroep (VRT) in Belgium, the BBC in theUK and Deutsche Welle in Germany. Letters havebeen published in Time magazine in USA, TheGuardian Weekly in UK, De Standaard and Le Soirin Belgium. Evidently the scope for attracting mediaattention is wide and varied. Significant publicinterest was generated in this year’s workshop onbanana taxonomy in the Philippines. The largenumber of banana varieties existing in the regiondrew widespread curiosity from the internationalpress, resulting in the regional coordinator beinginterviewed live on BBC radio.

47


Paul AllenPaul Allen, along with J.J. Ochse, under the sponsorship ofthe United Fruit Company, assembled the world’s largestcollection of bananas, nearly 800 accessions of wild speciesand varieties, for a major banana breeding programme inHonduras. The collection was recognized by Wilson Popenoeas “one of the grandest and most successful in the history ofplant introduction”. Much of success of the banana breedingprogramme, now known as FHIA, can be attributed to thiscollection and Paul Allen’s dedicated research on Musa. PaulAllen’s untimely death in the Philippines in 1965 prevented

him from completing his studies, but by storing information from his scorecards electronically and through publishing them, his contribution to thebanana research community will continue to reap benefits.

INIBAPpublications

Global publicationsC. Picq, E. Fouré and E.A. Frison (eds). Bananas

and food security/Les productions bananières:un enjeu économique majeur pour la sécuritéalimentaire. Proceedings of an InternationalSymposium held in Douala, Cameroon, 10-14November 1998.

E.A. Frison, C.S. Gold, E.B. Karamura and R.A. Sikora (eds). Mobilizing IPM forsustainable banana production in Africa.Proceedings of a workshop on banana IPM held in Nelspruit, South Africa, 23-28 November 1998.

Networking banana and plantain – INIBAP AnnualReport 1998.

K. Shepherd. Cytogenetics of the genus Musa.

Regional publicationsF.E. Rosales, S.C. Tripon and J. Cerna (eds).

Organic/environmentally friendly bananaproduction. Proceedings of a workshop held atEARTH, Guácimo, Costa Rica, 27-29 July 1998(in press).

F.E. Rosales, E. Arnaud and J. Coto (eds). A tribute to the work of Paul H. Allen: acatalogue of wild and cultivated bananas.

F.E. Rosales, S.C. Tripon y J. Cerna (eds).Producción de banano orgánico y, o,ambientalmente amigable. Memorias del taller internacional organizado en la EARTH, Guácimo, Costa Rica, 27-29 de Julio 1998.

E. Akyeampong (ed.). Musa Network for West and Central Africa. Report of the secondSteering Committee meeting held at Douala,Cameroon, 15-16 November 1998.

V.N. Roa and A.B. Molina (eds). Minutes: Eighthmeeting of INIBAP/ASPNET Regional AdvisoryCommittee (RAC) hosted by the QueenslandHorticulture Institute (DPI) in Brisbane, Australia,21-23 October 1998.

D.A. Karamura. Numerical taxonomic studies ofthe East African highland bananas (Musa AAA-East Africa) in Uganda.

FactsheetsD. De Waele and R.G. Davide. Musa Pest Fact

Sheet No. 3. The root-knot nematodes ofbanana Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid & White,1919) Chitwood, 1949 Meloidogyne javanica(Treub, 1885) Chitwood, 1949.

D. De Waele et R.G. Davide. Parasites etravageurs des Musa, Fiche technique n° 3.Nématodes à galle des bananiers et plantainsMeloidogyne incognita (Kofoid & White, 1919)Chitwood, 1949 Meloidogyne javanica (Treub,1885) Chitwood, 1949.

D. De Waele y R.G. Davide. Plagas de Musa -Hoja divulgativa No. 3. Nematodos noduladoresde las raíces del banano Meloidogyne incognita(Kofoid & White, 1919) Chitwood, 1949Meloidogyne javanica (Treub, 1885) Chitwood, 1949.

SerialsMusarama Vol. 12, No. 1 & 2 (English,

French and Spanish).

Musarama Annual Indexes Vol. 12 (English,French and Spanish).

INFOMUSA Vol. 8, No. 1 & 2 (English, French and Spanish).

RISBAP Bulletin Vol. 3, No. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

Web pagesINIBAP web page.

Staff presentations in 1999Arnaud E. The Musa Germplasm Information

System. Paper presented at the 2nd IPGRIInformation meeting. Rome, Italy, 18-24November 1999.

Doco H. New technologies for dissemination ofinformation at INIBAP: Web and CD-ROM.Paper presented at the 2nd IPGRI Informationmeeting. Rome, Italy, 18-24 November 1999.

Escalant J.V. PROMUSA: un programme mondialpour l’amélioration génétique des bananiers etplantains. Paper presented at the 3rd SteeringCommittee meeting of MUSACO. Abidjan, Côted’Ivoire, 23-24 November 1999.

Escalant J.V. PROMUSA: a global programme forMusa Improvement: presentation and progress.Paper presented at the FAO/IAEA 3rd Researchcoordination meeting of the collaborativeresearch project on “Cellular biology andbiotechnology, including mutation techniques for

48


creation of new useful banana genotypes”.Colombo, Sri Lanka 4-8 October 1999.

Frison E.A., D. Despreaux and J. Waage.International Sustainable Cocoa Programme.Paper presented at the ICCCO CocoaCommittee meeting. London, UK, 9 December1999.

Frison E.A. Global Programmes: New Options forAgricultural Research. Paper presented at ICCOmeeting. London, UK, December 1999.

Frison E.A. and S.L. Sharrock. The potential foruse of disease resistant varieties as organicbananas. Paper presented at the workshop“Organic Banana 2000: Towards an organicbanana initiative in the Caribbean”. SantoDomingo, Dominican Republic, 31 October-4 November 1999.

Frison E.A. and B. Eskes. Improved use ofgermplasm for sustainable cocoa-based agro-forestry systems in Africa. Paper presented atthe Sustainable Tree Crop Program (STCP)Forum, Arlington. Virginia, USA, 19-21 October1999.

Frison E.A. International Movement ofGermplasm. Paper presented at the XIVthInternational Plant Protection Congress. Tel Aviv,Israel, 27 July-3 August 1999.

Frison E.A. PROMUSA: a global programme forMusa Improvement. Paper presented at theInternational Symposium on Molecular &Cellular Biology. Ithaca, USA, 23 March 1999.

Molina A.B. Update on INIBAP-ASPNETOperation. Paper presented at the 9th INIBAP-ASPNET Regional Advisory Committee meeting.Guangzhou, China, 2-5 November 1999.

Molina A.B. IPGRI and the Philippines NaRDSAF:highlighting INIBAP’s role. Paper presented atthe Philippine NaRDSAF-IARC Forum,Mandaluyong City, Philippines, 4-5 October1999.

Molina A.B. Role of banana in food security andpoverty alleviation. Paper presented at the 30th

Anniversary and Annual Scientific meeting of thePest Management Council of the Philippines.Nueva Ecija, Philippines, 4-5 May 1999.

Molina A.B. Diseases: serious threat to thesurvival of the banana industry. Seminar held atthe Dept. of Plant Pathology, College ofAgriculture, U.P. Los Baños, Laguna,Philippines, 17 February 1999.

Ponsioen G.P. An introduction to INIBAP’sdatabases MUSALIT and BRIS. Paperpresented at the RISBAP Training Workshop.Phitsanulok, Thailand, 14-16 September 1999.

Remans T., P.M. Schenk, A.R. Elliott, L. Sági,A.D.W. Geering, J.E. Thomas, R. Swennen,C.P.L. Grof, J.M. Manners and P.R. Ebert.

Promoters from Australian Banana StreakBadnavirus (BSV) isolates drive transgeneexpression in banana, sugarcane and tobacco.Paper presented at the ComBio Conference.Gold Coast, Australia, 27-30 September 1999.

Remy S., I. Deconinck, R. Swennen and L. Sagi.Assessment of fungus tolerance in transgenicbanana using a leaf disc assay. Paperpresented at the 9th European Congress onBiotechnology. Brussels, Belgium, 11-15 July1999.

Roa V.N. RISBAP activities on a regional level.Paper presented at the Training/Workshop onthe Regional Information System on Bananaand Plantain-Asia and Pacific. Phitsanuloke,Thailand, 14-17 September 1999.

Van den Houwe I. and R. Swennen.Characterization and control of bacterialcontaminants in in vitro cultures of banana(Musa spp.). Paper presented at the ISHSCongress on Methods and Markers for QualityAssurance in Micropropagation. University ofCork, Ireland, 24-27 August 1999.

INIBAP Staff publicationsin 1999Akyeampong E. 1999. Plantain production,

marketing and consumption in West and CentralAfrica. Pp. 353-359 in Bananas and foodsecurity / Les productions bananières : un enjeuéconomique majeur pour la sécurité alimentaire.International symposium, Douala, Cameroon,10-14 November 1988 (C. Picq, E. Fouré andE.A. Frison, eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Draye X, B. Delvaux and R. Swennen. 1999.Distribution of lateral root primordia in root tipsof Musa. Annals of Botany 84: 393-400.

Elsen A., R. Stoffelen, R. Swennen and D. DeWaele. 1999. Development of aseptic culturesystems of Radopholus similis for in vitro host-pathogen studies. 3rd Meeting of the Fusariumwilt working group. Malaysia, 21-22 October1999. INFOMUSA 8 (2): XV-XVI. Abstract.

Engelborghs I., S. Remy and R. Swennen. 1999.Fluorescent AFLP’s to detect dwarfism. Thecase of the banana ‘Curare Enano’ (Musa spp.).INFOMUSA 8(1): V-VI. Abstract.

Engelborghs I. and R. Swennen. 1999.Fluorescent AFLP detection of dwarf types inbanana (Musa spp.) at early growth stage. Med.Fac. Landbouww. Univ. Gent 64 (5b): 427-430.

Frison E.A. 1999. Integrated pest management:An overview. Pp. 9-22 in Mobilizing IPM forsustainable banana production in AfricaProceedings of workshop on banana IPM,Nelspruit, South Africa, 23-28 November 1998

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(E.A. Frison, C.S. Gold, E.B. Karamura and R.A. Sikora, eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Frison E.A. and S.L. Sharrock. 1999. Theeconomic, social and nutritional importance ofbanana in the world. Pp. 21-35 in Bananas andfood security / Les productions bananières : unenjeu économique majeur pour la sécuritéalimentaire. International symposium, Douala,Cameroon, 10-14 November 1988 (C. Picq, E. Fouré and E.A. Frison, eds.). INIBAP,Montpellier, France.

Gold C.S., E.B. Karamura, A. Kiggundu, F. Bagamba and A.M.K Abera. 1999.Monograph on geographical shifts in highlandcooking banana (Musa, group AAA-EA)production in Uganda. African Crop ScienceJournal 7(3): special issue.

Gold C.S., N.D.T.M. Rukazambuga, E.B. Karamura, P. Nemeye and G. Night. 1999.Recent advances in banana weevil biology,population dynamics and pest status withemphasis on East Africa. Pp. 35-50 in MobilizingIPM for sustainable banana production in AfricaProceedings of workshop on banana IPM,Nelspruit, South Africa, 23-28 November 1998(E.A. Frison, C.S. Gold, E.B. Karamura and R.A. Sikora, eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Kaemmer D., C. Neu, G. Farashahi, R. L. Jarret,A. James, R. Swennen, C. Pasberg-Gauhl, F. Gauhl, D. Fisher, G. Kahl and K. Weising.1999. Microsatellite markers for genomeanalysis in Musa and Mycosphaerella. 3rd Meeting of the Fusarium wilt working group. Malaysia, 21-22 October 1999.INFOMUSA 8 (2): XII-XIII. Abstract.

Karamura E., E.A. Frison, D.A. Karamura andS.L. Sharrock. 1999. Banana productionsystems in eastern and southern Africa. Pp. 401-412 in Bananas and food security / Lesproductions bananières : un enjeu économiquemajeur pour la sécurité alimentaire. Internationalsymposium, Douala, Cameroon, 10-14November 1988 (C. Picq, E. Fouré and E.A. Frison, eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Lescot T. and F.E. Rosales. 1999. Importance desproductions locales de bananes et bananesplantain en Amérique latine et dans lesCaraïbes. Pp. 265-283 in Bananas and foodsecurity / Les productions bananières : un enjeuéconomique majeur pour la sécurité alimentaire.International symposium, Douala, Cameroon,10-14 November 1988 (C. Picq, E. Fouré andE.A. Frison eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Lysak M.A., M. Dolezelova, J. P. Horry, R. Swennen and J. Dolezel. 1999. Flowcytometric analysis of nuclear DNA content inMusa. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 98: 1344-1350.

Molina A.B. and R.V. Valmayor. 1999. Bananaproduction systems in Southeast Asia. Pp. 423-436 in Bananas and food security / Lesproductions bananières : un enjeu économiquemajeur pour la sécurité alimentaire. Internationalsymposium, Douala, Cameroon, 10-14November 1988 (C. Picq, E. Fouré and E.A. Frison eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Okech S.H.O., E.B. Karamura and C.S. Gold.1999. Banana IPM in Uganda. Pp. 225-236 inMobilizing IPM for sustainable bananaproduction in Africa. Proceedings of a workshopon banana IPM, Nelspruit, South Africa, 23-28November 1998 (E.A. Frison, C.S. Gold, E.B. Karamura and R.A. Sikora, eds.). INIBAP,Montpellier, France.

Orjeda G., J.V. Escalant and N. Moore. 1999. TheInternational Musa Testing Programme (IMTP)phase II: Overview of final report and summaryof results. INFOMUSA 8(1): 3-10.

Pérez Hernández J.B., S. Remy, V. Galán Saúco,R. Swennen and L. Sági. 1999. Chemotacticmovement and attachment of Agrobacteriumtumefaciens to single cells and tissues ofbanana. Journal of Plant Physiology 155: 245-250.

Pérez Hernández J.B., R. Swennen, V. GalánSaúco and L Sági. 1999. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of banana embryogeniccell suspension cultures. InternationalSymposium on the Molecular and CellularBiology of Banana. Ithaca, U.S.A., 22-25 March1999. INFOMUSA 8(1): XIII. Abstract.

Regev I., E. Khayat, S. Gepstein, L. Sági and R. Swennen. 1999. Go in bananas with themaize Ac element. Poster presentation.Technion Institute, University of Haifa, Israel, 4 July 1999.

Remy S., I. Deconinck, R. Swennen and L. Sági.1999. Development of a leaf disc assay toassess fungal tolerance in banana. InternationalSymposium on the Molecular and CellularBiology of Banana. Ithaca, U.S.A., 22-25 March1999. INFOMUSA 8(1): XV. Abstract.

Roux N., J. Dolezel, R. Swennen and F.J. Zapata-Arias. 1999. Chimerism in Musa spp. 3rd Meeting of the Fusarium wilt working group.Malaysia, 21-22 October 1999. INFOMUSA8(2): XI-XII. Abstract.

Sági L., S. Remy, L. Francois, I. Holsbeeks, A. Buyens, B.P.A. Cammue and R. Swennen.(in press). Transgenic plant production inbanana (Musa spp.). in Biotechnology inAgriculture and Forestry, Transgenic Crops II.Vol. 47. (Y.P.S. Bajaj, ed.). Springer, Berlin,Heidelberg, New York.

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Schenk P.M., T. Remans, R.G. Dietzgen, J.B. Bernard, R. Swennen, M.W. Graham, J.M. Manners and L. Sági. 1999. A promoterfrom sugarcane bacilliform badnavirus drivestransgene expression in banana and othermonocot and dicot plants. InternationalSymposium on the Molecular and CellularBiology of Banana. Ithaca, U.S.A., 22-25 March1999. INFOMUSA 8(1): XI. Abstract.

Schoofs H., B. Panis, H. Strosse, A. MayoMosqueda, J. Lopez Torres, N. Roux, J. Dolezeland R. Swennen. 1999. Bottlenecks in thegeneration and maintenance of morphogenicbanana cell suspensions and plant regenerationvia somatic ambryogenesis therefrom.INFOMUSA 8(2): 3-7.

Speijer P.R., E. Boonen, D. Vuylsteke, R. Swennen and D. De Waele. 1999. Nematode reproduction and damage to Musasword suckers and sword sucker derived plants.Nematropica 29(2): 193-203.

Speijer P.R., E.B. Karamura, C.S. Gold, B. Goossens, A. Elsen and D. De Waele. (in press). Rate of nematode infestation of cleanbanana planting material (Musa AAA, Matookegroup) in Uganda. Acta Horticulturae.

Ssennyonga, J.W., F. Bagamba, C. Gold, W.K Tushemereirwe, E.B. Karamura andKatungi. 1999. Understanding current bananaproduction with special reference to intergratedpest management in south western Uganda.Pp. 291-310 in Mobilizing IPM for sustainable

banana production in Africa. Proceedings of aworkshop on banana IPM, Nelspruit, SouthAfrica, 23-28 November 1998 (E.A. Frison, C.S. Gold, E.B. Karamura and R.A. Sikora,eds.). INIBAP, Montpellier, France.

Stoffelen R., M.I. Jimenez, C. Dierickxsens, V.T.T. Tam, R. Swennen and D. De Waele.1999. Effect of time and inoculum density on thereproductive fitness of Pratylenchus coffeae andRadopholus similis populations on carrot disks.Nematology 1(3): 243-250.

Stoffelen R., R. Swennen and D. De Waele. 1999.Early root and nematode development in Musaas a function of time. 14th SymposiumNematological Society of Southern Africa.Dikholola, South Africa, 30 May - 3 June 1999.21. Abstract.

Stoffelen R., V.T.T. Tam, R. Swennen and D. De Waele. 1999. Host plant response ofbanana (Musa spp.) cultivars from SoutheastAsia to nematodes. International Journal ofNematology 9(2): 130-136.

Stoffelen R., R. Verlinden, N.T. Xuyen, R. Swennenand D. De Waele. 1999. Screening of PapuaNew Guinea bananas to root-lesion and root-knotnematodes. INFOMUSA 8(1): 12-15.

Surga J.G., R. Swennen and B. Panis. 1999.Cryopreservation of banana meristem (Musaspp.): optimisation of regeneration. INFOMUSA8(1): 23-24.

Swennen R. and D. Vuylsteke. (in press). Bananaand Plantain in Tropical Crops in Africa. (R.Raemaekers, ed.). ABOS, Brussels, Belgium.

Van den Berg I. 1999. Nematological research atthe Vietnam Agricultural Science Institute.INFOMUSA 8(2): 33.

Van den Houwe I. 1999. INIBAP GermplasmTransit Centre: managing the in vitro medium-term genebank for Musa spp. Pp. 127-131 inManagement of field and in vitro germplasmcollections. Proceedings of a consultationmeeting held at CIAT, Cali, Colombia, 15-20January 1996 (F. Engelmann, ed.). IPGRI,Rome, Italy.

Van den Houwe I. and B. Panis. (in press). In vitroconservation of banana: medium term storageand prospects for cryopreservation.Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources invitro. Vol. 2. (M. K. Razdan and E. Cocking,eds). M/S Science Publishers, U.S.A.

Van den Houwe I. and Swennen R. (in press).Characterization and control of bacterialcontaminants in in vitro cultures of banana(Musa spp.). Acta Horticulturae.

Vandenhout H., R. Swennen, R. Demot and G. Schoofs. 1999. Protein changes associatedwith somatic embryogenesis in cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.). Med. Fac.Landbouww. Univ. Gent 64 (5b): 451-454.

Wiame I., I. Engelborghs, R. Swennen and L. Sági. 1999. Characterization of a resistancegene analog and adaptation of cDNA-AFLPin banana. International Symposium on theMolecular and Cellular Biology of Banana.Ithaca, U.S.A., 22-25 March 1999. INFOMUSA8(1): XIV-XV. Abstract.

51


Board of Trustees

Board Chair

Dr Marcio de Miranda SantosHeadEmbrapa/Department for Research & DevelopmentSAIN Parque RuralAv. W3 Norte-final70 770-901 Brasilia - DF - Brazil

Members

Prof. Thomas CottierDirectorInstitute of European & International Economic LawHochschulstrasse 4CH-3012 Berne - Switzerland

Dr Michel de Nucé de LamothePresidentAgropolisAvenue Agropolis34394 Montpellier Cedex 5 - France

Dr Mahmoud DuwayriDirectorPlant Production and Protection DivisionFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome - Italy

Dr Geoffrey C. HawtinDirector GeneralIPGRIVia delle Sette Chiese, 14200145 Rome - Italy

Dr Malcolm HazelmanManager, Agriculture Programme Secretariat of the Pacific CommunityPrivate Mail BagSuva - Fiji Islands

Prof. Luigi MontiDepartment of Agronomy and Plant GeneticsUniversità di NapoliVia dell’ Università 10080055 Portici, Napoli - Italy

Dr Masahiro NakagahraDirector General National Institute for Agrobiological Research(NIAR)Kannondai 2-1-2Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305 - Japan

52


Financial HighlightsRevenue Research Agenda

US $ Unrestricted Restricted Non-agenda Total

Australia 160 39 199

Belgium 182 984 1 166

Canada 184 184

France 169 157 326

India 25 25

Netherlands 72 72

Peru 57 57

Philippines 17 17

South Africa 30 30

Spain 40 30 70

Switzerland 14 14

Thailand 5 5

United Kingdom 67 67

AfDB 35 35

CATIE 10 10

CFC 30 30

CIRAD 54 54

CTA 80 80

IBRD 430 430

IDRC 62 62

TBRI 23 23

UNDP 1 1

USAID 100 2 102

Other Income 149 149

Total 1 546 1 662 0 3 208 Revenues

As at December 31, 1999 - US$000.

Expenditures Research Agenda

Unrestricted Restricted Non-Agenda Total

Research ProgrammeGermplasm 1 055 1 585 2 640 and BreedingConferences 36 5 41 and TrainingInformation Services 320 43 363

General 496 496 Administration

Total 1 907 1 633 0 3 540Expenditures

Recovery of (29) 29 0Indirect Costs

1 878 1 662 0 3 540

As at December 31, 1999 - US$000.

INIBAP 1999

53


Staff list 1999Name Position Nationality Joined Stationed

E.A. Frison Director Belgium 01-10-95 Montpellier

E. Akyeampong Regional Coordinator WCA Ghana 01-06-97 Cameroon

E. Arnaud Info/Doc Specialist France 01-10-89 Montpellier

R. Bogaerts Technician Belgium 12-02-88 ITC, Belgium

A. Causse Programme Assistant France 01-11-99 Montpellier

H. Doco Info/Com Specialist France 15-09-98 Montpellier

J.V. Escalant Musa Genetic Resources France 01-04-99 MontpellierScientist

S. Faure Senior Programme Assistant UK 01-06-88 Montpellier

E. Gonnord Accounting Assistant France 17-08-98 Montpellier

J.P. Horry* Germplasm Coordinator France 15-08-94 Montpellier

C. Jonkers Intern, Biotechnology Belgium 19-07-99 Costa Rica

E. Karamura Regional Coordinator ESA Uganda 01-04-97 Uganda

E. Kempenaers Research Technician Belgium 15-10-90 ITC, Belgium

E. Lipman Scientific Assistant France 01-07-99 Montpellier

S.B. Lwasa Programme Assistant ESA Uganda 01-08-97 Uganda

F. Malafosse Programme Assistant France 01-02-91 Montpellier

M.M.Mbakop Ngamy Programme Assistant WCA Cameroon 01-12-97 Cameroon

S. Messiaen Associate Expert, Entomology Belgium 01-07-98 Cameroon

T. Moens Associate Expert, Nematology Belgium 01-06-98 Costa Rica

A.B. Molina Regional Coordinator ASP Philippines 20-02-98 Philippines

G. Moffatt Programme Assistant Ireland 11-10-99 Montpellier

G. Orjeda* Genetic Improvement Scientist Peru 15-05-96 Montpellier

C. Picq Head, Information/ France 01-04-87 MontpellierCommunications

G. Ponsioen Info/Doc Specialist Netherlands 12-04-99 Montpellier

V. Roa Programme Assistant ASP Philippines 01-01-91 Philippines

F. Rosales Regional Coordinator LAC Honduras 01-04-97 Costa Rica

J. Schurgers Intern, Biotechnology Belgium 01-11-98 Cameroon

B. Sellers* Programme Assistant UK 17-07-97 Montpellier

S.L. Sharrock Germplasm Conservation UK 07-07-96 MontpellierScientist

R. Swennen Honorary Research Fellow Belgium 01-12-95 KUL, Belgium

T. Thornton Financial Manager U.K. 01-08-90 Montpellier

S. Tripon* Associate Scientist, France 15-11-96 Costa RicaGermplasm Evaluation

R.V. Valmayor Honorary Research Fellow Philippines 01-01-97 Philippines

I. van den Bergh Associate Expert, Nematology Belgium 01-10-97 Vietnam

I. van den Houwe Officer in Charge ITC Belgium 01-02-92 ITC, Belgium

L. Vega Programme Assistant LAC Costa Rica 01-02-92 Costa Rica

S. Voets Technician Belgium 01-01-93 ITC, Belgium

J. Wilmaers Research Technician Belgium 01-11-97 ITC, Belgium

* left during the year.List indicates members of the INIBAP programme of IPGRI. In addition, staff within other programmes and departments of IPGRI contributed to the INIBAP programme during 1999.

Dr Gene NamkoongDepartment of Forest SciencesFaculty of ForestryUniversity of British ColumbiaMacMillan Building189-2357 Main MallVancouver V6T 1ZA - B.C. Canada

Prof. Ivan NielsenDepartment of Systematic BotanyUniversity of AarhusNordlandsvey 688340 Risskov - Denmark

Dr Nohra Pombo De JunguitoCalle 75 No. 13-51Ofic. 501Bogotá - Colombia

Dr René SalazarChair Person, PhilippinesProgramme Coordinating CommitteeCommunity Biodiversity ConservationDevelopment ProgrammeQuezon City - Philippines

Dr Theresa SengoobaNamulonge Agricultural and Animal Production Research InstituteP.O. Box 7084Kampala - Uganda

Dr Benchaphun ShinawatraMultiple Cropping CentreFaculty of AgricultureChiang Mai UniversityChiang Mai 50002 - Thailand

ACIAR Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research

ACT Action by Churches Together, SwitzerlandAFLP amplified fragment length polymorphismAfDB African Development BankARI-Maruku Agricultural Research Institute - Maruku,

TanzaniaASARECA Association for Strengthening Agricultural

Research in East and Central AfricaASPNET Asia and Pacific Regional Network,

the PhilippinesBA benzyladenineBanMMV banana mild mosaic virusBARNESA Banana Research Network for Eastern and

Southern Africa, UgandaBBC British Broadcasting CorporationBBTV banana bunchy top virusBDBV banana dieback virusBPI Bureau of Plant Industry, the PhilippinesBPI-DNCRDC BPI-Davao National Crop Research and

Development Center, the PhilippinesBSV banana streak virusCABI CAB International, UKCATIE Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación

y Enseñanza, Costa RicaCEDAF Centro para el Desarrollo Agropecuario y

Forestal, Inc., Dominican RepublicCETA-Chinandega Centro de Enseñanza Técnica

Agropecuaria – Chinandega, NicaraguaCIRAD Centre de coopération internationale en

recherche agronomique pour ledéveloppement, France.

CIRAD-AMIS CIRAD-Département Amélioration desméthodes pour l’innovation scientifique,France

CIRAD-FLHOR CIRAD-Département des productionsfruitières et horticoles, France

CMV cucumber mosaic virusCNN Cable News Network, USACORBANA Corporación Bananera Nacional, Costa RicaCORPOICA Corporación Colombiana de Investigación

Agropecuaria, ColombiaCRBP Centre de recherches régionales sur

bananiers et plantains, CameroonCRDI Centre de recherches pour le

développement international, CanadaCTA Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural

Cooperation, the NetherlandsDDT disease development timeDFID Department for International Development,

UKDGIC Directorate General for International

Cooperation, Belgium.DNA deoxyribonucleic acidECS embryogenic cell suspensionsELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assayEMBRAPA Empresa Brasiliera de Pesquisa

Agropecuaria, BrazilFAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations, ItalyFCRC Fruit Crop Research Centre, VietnamFHIA Fundación Hondureña de Investigación

Agrícola, HondurasFoc Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubenseFONAIAP-CENIAP Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones

Agropecuarias - Centro Nacional deInvestigaciones Agropecuarias, Venezuela

FORAGRO Foro Regional de Investigación y DesarrolloTecnológico Agropecuario para AméricaLatina y el Caribe, Ecuador

GFP green fluorescent proteinHORDI Horticultural Crop Research and

Development Institute, Sri LankaICAR Indian Council for Agricultural ResearchICIA Instituto Canario de Investigaciones

Agrarias, SpainIDRC International Development Research Centre,

CanadaIEB Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech

RepublicIITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture,

NigeriaIITA - ESARC IITA - East and Southern Africa Regional

Center, UgandaIMTP International Musa Testing ProgrammeINIA Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones

Agrícolas, SpainIPM integrated pest managementIPB/UPLB Institute of Plant Breeding/UPLBITSC Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Crops,

South AfricaKARI Kenyan Agricultural Research InstituteKCDP Kagera Community Development

Programme, TanzaniaKUL Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumLACNET Regional Network for Latin America and the

Caribbean, Costa RicaMARDI Malaysian Agricultural Research and

Development InstituteMBC minimal bactericidal concentrationMGIS Musa Germplasm Information SystemMUSACO Musa Research Network for West and

Central Africa, CameroonMUSALAC Banana R&D Network for Latin America and

the CaribbeanNARI National Agricultural Research Institute,

Papua New GuineaNARS National Agricultural Research SystemsNBPGR National Board for Plant Genetic Resources,

IndiaNRCB National Research Centre on Banana, IndiaPAGE polyacrylamide gel electrophoresisPCARRD Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry

and Natural Resources Research andDevelopment

PCR polymerase chain reactionPPRI Plant Protection Research Institute, South

AfricaPVS2 plant vitrification solution 2QDPI Queensland Department of Primary

Industries, AustraliaQHI Queensland Horticulture Institute, AustraliaQUT Queensland University of Technology,

AustraliaRAPD random amplified polymorphic DNARIF Research Institute for Fruits, IndonesiaRISBAP Regional Information System for Banana

and Plantain in Asia and the PacificSCAU South China Agricultural UniversitySIDBAP Servicio de Información y Documentación

sobre Banano y Plátano, PanamaSPC Secretariat of the Pacific Community, FijiSTMS sequence-tagged microsatellite markersUNAN-León Universidad de León, NicaraguaUPLB University of the Philippines at Los BañosVASI Vietnam Agricultural Science InstituteVLIR Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad, BelgiumVRT Vlaamse Radio en Televisieomroep, BelgiumVVOB Vlaamse Vereniging voor

Ontwikkelingsamenwerking en TechnischeBijstand, Belgium

54


Acronyms and abbreviations

En 1999, les activités de l’INIBAP ont connuune très sensible expansion dans les quatregrandes régions productrices de bananes, oùun appui a été apporté à 30 projets derecherche mis en œuvre par les programmesnationaux : six projets en Asie, 10 enAmérique latine et dans les Caraïbes, et 14 enAfrique. En outre, deux projets sous-régionauxont été lancés, l’un en Afrique de l’Est pourassurer la conservation en milieu paysan de ladiversité génétique de Musa, l’autre en Afriquede l’Ouest en vue d’améliorer la culturepériurbaine des bananiers plantain.

La quantité de matériel génétique distribuéepar l’INIBAP a doublé pour atteindre 6654échantillons en 1999, ce qui témoigne del’intensité des activités en cours pour fournirdu matériel aux producteurs (projet périurbainen Afrique de l’Ouest, projet d’introduction devariétés nouvelles au Nicaragua, Programmede développement communautaire de Kageraen Tanzanie, etc.) et pour mener desrecherches et des évaluations variétales.

Grâce à l’action des réseaux régionaux,quelque 440 personnes ont été formées à laculture des bananiers plantain et auxméthodes de l’agriculture biologique enAmérique latine, 22 techniciens de Sri Lankaont été initiés aux techniques d’indexation pardes virologistes de Taiwan, les membres ducomité de pilotage du réseau BARNESA sesont familiarisés avec l’utilisation du cadrelogique (ce qui a facilité l’obtention d’unfinancement pour un projet de lutte intégréecontre les ravageurs) et des représentants dessystèmes nationaux de recherche agricole(SNRA) d’Afrique occidentale et centrale ontété formés à la collecte de données deréférence, afin de pouvoir engager un travailsystématique dans ce domaine. Des ateliersont eu lieu également sur la culture biologiquedes bananes aux Caraïbes, le potentiel desbananes à cuire dans les régionssubtropicales et la standardisation des nomset synonymes des variétés de bananiers enAsie du Sud-Est.

L’analyse des données de la phase II duProgramme international d’évaluation desMusa (IMTP) a été achevée et les résultatsdoivent être publiés prochainement. Troisvariétés de la Fundación Hondureña deInvestigación Agrícola (FHIA) se sont

montrées très productives dans l’ensembledes sites expérimentaux. Plusieurs nouveauxhybrides de la FHIA, ainsi que des variétés duCentre de recherches régionales sur bananierset plantains (CRBP), de l’Institut internationald’agriculture tropicale (IITA) et du Centre decoopération internationale en rechercheagronomique pour le développement (CIRAD),ont été soumis à l’indexation pour les virus etsont disponibles pour les essais de la phase IIIde l’IMTP.

Le nouveau site Web de l’INIBAP donne unlarge éventail d’informations sur toutes sesactivités et permet un accès en ligne à sesbases de données et à ses publications. Pourceux qui ne sont pas connectés à Internet, unnouveau cédérom (MUSADOC) contient laplupart des publications parues en 1998et 1999, ainsi que les versions actualisées desbases de données.

Points saillants desactivités de l’INIBAP en 1999

Gestion du matérielgénétique

Banque de matériel génétique de l’INIBAPAvec l’acquisition de 24 nouvelles accessions venant pour laplupart des missions de prospection du Viêt-nam, la collectionde matériel génétique de l’INIBAP a atteint 1136 accessionsen 1999. La quantité de matériel expédiée dans lesdifférentes régions du monde a doublé : au total, 6654échantillons ont été distribués. Une demande importante dematériel a été enregistrée pour le travail de caractérisationeffectué en France par le CIRAD et en République tchèquepar l’Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB).

Afin de faciliter la distribution des variétés développées parles programmes d’amélioration, l’INIBAP a élaboré denouveaux accords pour l’acquisition et pour le transfert dumatériel génétique. Ces accords autorisent l’INIBAP àdistribuer ces variétés sans restriction, tout en obligeant lesbénéficiaires à négocier leur utilisation commercialedirectement avec le fournisseur d’origine. Un accord standardde transfert de matériel génétique est également applicablepour la distribution du matériel « désigné » que l’INIBAPdétient pour le compte de la communauté internationale.

Des progrès important ont été réalisés dans l’évaluation del’état sanitaire de la collection de matériel génétique. Les troisquarts de cette collection ont été soumis à l’indexation et

55


L’INIBAP en 1999

75 % des accessions indexées sont indemnes de virus etpeuvent être distribuées. Les tests de dépistage descontaminants bactériens pratiqués sur 1002 accessions ontdonné moins de 5 % de résultats positifs.

Élimination des contaminants bactériensLa banque de matériel génétique de l’INIBAP utilise troisméthodes pour débarrasser les cultures de tissus descontaminants endogènes Bacillus et Mycobacterium. Pouréliminer une infection par Bacillus, il suffit d’isoler et decultiver des méristèmes d’une dimension de 1 mm.Mycobacterium, qui semble pénétrer plus profondément dansles tissus méristématiques, est plus difficile à supprimer.Néanmoins, en cultivant des plantules en serre pendant sixmois, on obtient des explants sains dont la culture fournit dumatériel indemne de bactéries.

Pour éliminer une forte contamination, on applique desantibiotiques aux cultures de tissus avant d’isoler des explantsou de tenter toute régénération. Sur 10 antibiotiques testés, larifampicine s’est montrée la plus efficace contre Bacilluscirculans et Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare.

Recherches sur la cryoconservationLa Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) effectue desrecherches en vue d’améliorer la survie du matériel génétiqueaprès la décongélation. En 1999, les variables suivantes ontété étudiées :• dimension du massif méristématique placé dans le milieu

de préculture ; • concentration de BA (benzyladénine) dans le milieu de

préculture ; • absence de lumière durant la période de préculture ; • consistance du milieu de régénération ; • durée de la subculture précédant la préculture ; • durée de l’exposition à la solution de vitrification ; • composition de la solution de vitrification.

Il s’est avéré que la durée de la subculture sur un milieu àforte teneur en cytokinines avant la préculture des massifsméristématiques exerçait une influence significative sur lasurvie après décongélation. En portant le temps d’exposition àla solution de vitrification de 30 minutes à deux heures, on aégalement obtenu une amélioration significative de la viabilité.Ces observations devront être confirmées par de nouveauxessais.

On a examiné les effets d’une préculture dans un milieucontenant du saccharose à 0,4 M sur la teneur en acidesaminés libres, sucres, acides gras membranaires etpolyamines chez différents cultivars. Il en est résultéinvariablement une augmentation de la teneur en alanine ettryptophane. On a trouvé une forte teneur en tryptophanechez les cultivars qui sont sensibles au noircissement et seprêtent mal à la cryoconservation. D’après les conclusionspréliminaires de cette étude, la fréquence de régénérationaprès décongélation est plus élevée avec une faible teneur ensérine et une forte teneur en glutamine, acide glutamique,isoleucine et acides aminés totaux. Des changementsimportants ont été enregistrés dans la teneur en polyamines,spermine, spermidine, putrescine et tyramine après lapréculture. L’accroissement de la teneur en spermine était encorrélation positive avec le taux de survie aprèsdécongélation.

Recherches sur les virus

Virus de la mosaïque en tirets du bananier(BSV)Deux types de séquences génomiques intégrées dubadnavirus ont été identifiés. L’INIBAP appuie des

recherches du CIRAD qui ont permis d’établir qu’unintégrant activable est associé à Musa balbisiana, tandisqu’une autre séquence, partielle et inactivable, est associéeà Musa acuminata. Selon une hypothèse qui est à l’étude, legénome de M. balbisiana pourrait contenir un « facteur dedéclenchement » responsable du développement du virusde la mosaïque en tirets chez les croisements M. acuminatax M. balbisiana.

Les chercheurs de l’université du Minnesota ontdécouvert des différences fondamentales entre lesséquences génomiques des intégrants du BSV présentschez les variétés de génotype AAA comme Grande Naine etWilliams, et celles des intégrants présents chez ObinoL’Ewai. Leur conclusion préliminaire est que le BSV n’a pasété transféré des hybrides AAAB aux variétés de génotypeAAA. La question de l’origine de l’infection de Grande Nainepar le BSV à Onne demeure donc irrésolue.

Virus du dépérissement du bananierLes recherches se poursuivent sur la maladie découverte en1998 au Nigeria, qui cause un dépérissement partant desparties les plus anciennes des plants de bananiers pours’étendre progressivement aux parties les plus jeunes. Unantisérum brut a été mis au point. Le virus semble apparentéaux népovirus sur le plan sérologique. L’IITA et les centresd’indexation de l’INIBAP en Australie et en Afrique du Sud ontentrepris de développer une méthode d’indexationsérologique ou basée sur la PCR.

Virus de la mosaïque légère du bananierUn nouveau potexvirus, détecté en 1998, a reçu l’appellationde virus de la mosaïque légère du bananier (BanMMV). Il estlargement répandu, souvent en infection mixte, chez lematériel génétique de bananier. L’INIBAP et la faculté dessciences agronomiques de Gembloux en Belgique sont entrain d’évaluer une procédure d’éradication à l’aide d’agentsantiviraux, la dihydroxypropyladénine (RS)-DPA et la ribavirine(Virazole®).

CaractérisationLe CIRAD-FLHOR a mis au point une technique pouridentifier à un niveau fin les clones de M. balbisiana etAustralimusa à l’aide de marqueurs microsatellites àséquence ciblée, par électrophorèse non radioactive sur geld’urée-polyacrylamide (PAGE). Un gel de 38 cm a permis uneséparation plus fine des allèles que le gel plus petit utilisé lesannées précédentes. Seuls les clones des groupes les plusuniformes risquent d’être difficiles à évaluer. On a détecté un petit nombre de divergences entre la classification dérivée de cette méthode et celle qui était attendue d’après lesinformations publiées.

En analysant 461 accessions de l’INIBAP à l’aide de lacytométrie en flux, on a trouvé chez 8 % de ces accessionsun degré de ploïdie différent de celui attendu. L’intérêt decette technique pour cribler de grandes quantités de matérielgénétique est évident. On est en train d’affiner la procédurepour M. acuminata et M. balbisiana, et il faudra ensuite fairede même pour les autres espèces.

MGISLe MGIS est maintenant disponible dans une nouvelleversion plus conviviale (MGIS 2.0). À la fin de 1999, ilcontenait des données sur 3618 accessions. Le nouveaucédérom a été distribué aux partenaires contribuant auMGIS et lors de l’atelier sur les noms des bananiers tenuaux Philippines.

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Amélioration du matérielgénétique

Programme internationald’évaluation des Musa (IMTP)L’INIBAP a analysé les résultats des essais de la phase II del’IMTP, qui feront l’objet d’une publication au début de 2000.Les données sur la performance et les caractéristiques dechacune des variétés candidates et variétés de référencedans des environnements divers doivent être publiées sousforme de catalogue et enregistrées dans la base de donnéesde l’IMTP, qui seront l’un et l’autre accessibles sur le site Weben 2000.

L’indice d’infection au moment de l’émergence du régime etle poids moyen des doigts permettent de mesurer larésistance à la cercosporiose noire de manière cohérente.Ces paramètres peuvent servir d’indicateurs minimaux pourune évaluation simple. Trois hybrides de la FHIA ontinvariablement donné des rendements élevés et répondupositivement aux méthodes de gestion améliorées dansl’ensemble des sites expérimentaux.

La plupart des nouveaux hybrides qui doivent être inclusdans la phase III ont été soumis à l’indexation pour les virus.La nouvelle variété la plus prometteuse de la FHIA, FHIA 25,est prête à être distribuée. En plus des trois hybridesprovenant de la FHIA, neuf autres ont été fournis par leCRBP, l’IITA et le CIRAD. On a approvisionné les centres dedistribution régionaux en tissus proliférants et pris toutes lesmesures requises pour organiser la distribution du matériel àévaluer.

PROMUSAEn 1999, des efforts ont été faits pour améliorer les échangesd’informations au sein de PROMUSA. Chacun des cinqgroupes de travail a maintenant un groupe restreint et unprésident afin de faciliter la communication et lefonctionnement du programme. Un projet visant à renforcer lepartenariat entre l’INIBAP, l’EMBRAPA et le CIRAD a étésoumis au Gouvernement français, qui l’a accepté.

Un sous-groupe du groupe de travail sur l’améliorationgénétique s’est réuni à l’occasion du « symposiuminternational sur la biologie moléculaire et cellulaire desbananiers » à l’université Cornell. La présence de plusieurschercheurs de firmes privées a permis de discuter sur lepartenariat entre les secteurs public et privé. Il a été décidéde lancer une « initiative sur la génomique du bananier » afinde conjuguer les expertises dans un domaine de recherchequi est en plein essor. La première réunion sur ce thème auralieu au début de 2000.

Le groupe de travail sur la fusariose s’est réuni pour latroisième fois lors du séminaire sur « la fusariose desbananiers : vers une culture durable ». Les participants ontjugé nécessaire de développer la formation à l’utilisation destechniques d’analyse génétique et de créer une base dedonnées sur la diversité de Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.cubense (Foc). Ils ont reconnu l’intérêt de travailler en liaisonavec le groupe de travail sur l’amélioration génétique afind’identifier des variétés résistantes à Foc et ont apporté descompléments au rapport sur les possibilités de rechercheinitialement élaboré par ce groupe. Les domaines derecherche prioritaires suivants ont été identifiés :• mise au point d’un test pour cribler les plantules ; • collecte de matériel génétique local et évaluation de sa

réaction à Foc ; • recherches sur la fausse maladie de Panama.

Dans le cadre du groupe de travail sur la nématologie, leCIRAD-AMIS a mené des recherches à l’aide de marqueursAFLP (polymorphisme de longueur des fragments de

restriction) qui ont confirmé les schémas de diversitégénétique de Radopholus similis précédemment mis enévidence à l’aide de marqueurs RAPD ou enzymatiques. Cesrésultats montrent qu’on peut se servir avec confiance desmarqueurs RAPD et enzymatiques pour des analysessimples. Tandis que la technique utilisant des marqueursAFLP, qui est relativement laborieuse, peut être réservée auxanalyses plus compliquées.

Amélioration des bananiersLes chercheurs de la KUL étudient différentes techniquespour obtenir du matériel pouvant faire l’objet d’unetransformation génétique, à savoir des suspensions cellulairesembryogènes. Pour établir celles-ci à partir de culturesméristématiques hautement proliférantes, il faut utiliser de la6-benzyladénine pendant un temps prolongé, ce qui peutentraîner une diminution indésirable du taux d’embryogenèsesomatique. Les autres milieux ou méthodes testés n’ont pasdonné de résultats probants, mais les recherches menées en1999 montrent qu’on peut améliorer la procédure en veillant àla fraîcheur du matériel végétal utilisé comme source deméristèmes.

On a procédé à l’inoculation de près de 9000 massifsméristématiques sur un milieu induisant l’embryogenèse. Lafréquence de l’embryogenèse s’est révélée faible (de 0,4 à2 %). Les meilleurs taux ont été obtenus chez Grande Naineet Williams JD. La KUL a aussi réalisé des essais, encollaboration avec l’ICIA de Ténérife et l’IITA/ESARCd’Ouganda, en utilisant comme source de matérielembryogène des fleurs mâles fraîches (bourgeons tout justerécoltés). Sur 210 bourgeons de Grande Naine testés, 6 %des mains sont devenues embryogènes et sept ont produit dumatériel adéquat pour établir une suspension cellulaireembryogène. Afin d’évaluer la variation somaclonale, on aenvoyé des plants dérivés de suspensions cellulairesembryogènes de plusieurs variétés dans des sitesexpérimentaux.

Les photos prises dans le cadre d’études sur l’évolutiondans le temps de cultures méristématiques proliférantes et demassifs méristématiques sur un milieu induisantl’embryogenèse sont extrêmement instructives, sans toutefoisfournir de schémas probants du développementmorphologique. L’hétérogénéité des explants méristématiquessemble être endogène et l’on constate que les schémas dedéveloppement d’explants morphologiquement similairespeuvent être différents et très imprévisibles. Étant donné lafaiblesse de la réponse des massifs méristématiques surmilieu induisant l’embryogenèse, il n’a été possible d’établiraucune corrélation entre leurs caractères morphologiques etleur capacité embryogène.

La transformation génétique par introductiond’Agrobacterium donne de bons résultats. On atteint des tauxde transformation allant jusqu’à 100 % avec un faible nombrede sites d’insertion. Des tentatives préliminaires d’introductionde gènes dans des cultures de tissus au lieu de cultures desuspensions cellulaires ont également donné des résultatsprometteurs.

Activités régionales

Amérique latine et CaraïbesUn accord a été préparé pour transformer le Réseau INIBAPd’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (LACNET) en Réseau derecherche et développement sur les bananiers et bananiersplantain d’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (MUSALAC), quiopérera sous les auspices du Foro Regional de Investigacióny Desarrollo Tecnologíco Agropecuro para América Latina y elCaribe (FORAGRO). Cela marque l’aboutissement de

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l’initiative de l’INIBAP visant à placer tous les réseauxrégionaux sous le patronage d’organismes appropriés.

Sept nouveaux projets ont été financés par le canal del’INIBAP, avec l’aide du Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID, Royaume-Uni). Quatre cours deformation sur la production des bananes plantain ont eu lieudans la région, avec un total de 240 participants duNicaragua, de Panama, du Venezuela et de Républiquedominicaine. Deux cours sur la culture biologique desbananes ont été organisés au Pérou à l’intention de près de200 producteurs et techniciens pour contribuer aux effortsvisant à réhabiliter 1000 ha de plantations. Un atelier s’esttenu en République dominicaine sur la culture biologique desbananes et leur commercialisation aux Caraïbes. Cetteréunion avait pour hôte l’un des principaux producteurs debananes biologiques, dont l’expérience a enrichi les débats.Des échanges divers ont eu lieu entre l’ICIA de Ténérife et leréseau LACNET, dont un atelier sur le potentiel des bananesà cuire dans les régions subtropicales, qui a été l’occasiond’échanges de vues entre des experts de toutes les régionsdu monde.

Un chercheur associé INIBAP/VVOB mène des recherchessur les nématodes à la CORBANA. Il s’agit de déterminer lescorrélations entre les taux de nématodes, les dégâts sur lesracines et les pertes de rendement. Des populations deRadopholus similis et Pratylenchus sp. ont été isolées dansdes régions bananières du Costa Rica et multipliées in vitro.Des essais ont été effectués sur des plants de bananiers afind’identifier la quantité optimale de nématodes à injecter pourproduire un niveau maximum d’infestation. Une stagiaire del’INIBAP a également commencé un travail de recherche à laCORBANA en vue d’évaluer les effets des techniques destérilisation sur le pH du milieu de culture de tissus.

Asie et PacifiqueLe bureau de l’INIBAP basé aux Philippines a étéofficiellement doté d’un statut international aux termes d’unaccord conclu entre l’IPGRI et le Gouvernement desPhilippines.

Plus de 60 chercheurs et décideurs se sont réunis au Sri Lanka pour faire le point sur les affections virales desbananiers. Le virus de la mosaïque des bractées et le virus du bunchy top prédominent dans ce pays, où environ 80 %des bananiers sont infectés. Des recommandations ont étéformulées à l’issue de cette réunion. Des virologistes del’université nationale de Taiwan et de l’Horticultural CropResearch and Development Institute (HORDI) ont ensuiteconduit un stage de trois jours qui a permis de former 22chercheurs aux techniques d’indexation basées sur le testELISA et la PCR.

Les coordinateurs nationaux du RISBAP ont suivi uneformation en Thaïlande pour se familiariser avec les versionsrécemment actualisées des bases de données MUSALIT etBRIS. Un atelier sur les « noms et synonymes des variétés debananiers en Asie du Sud-Est » s’est tenu aux Philippines. Il aeu des échos dans les médias d’autres régions du monde, oùla riche diversité des bananiers de la région a suscité unintérêt considérable. Sur une liste de 296 noms de cultivars,164 ont été retenus comme uniques, dont 102 correspondantà des cultivars endémiques d’un seul pays.

Une évaluation est en cours pour déterminer si la stratégiede gestion appliquée pour lutter contre la pourriturebactérienne des fruits aux Philippines peut être reprise contrela maladie du sang à Sumatra. Consistant à désinfecter lesoutils et à éliminer précocement les bourgeons mâles, elle adonné de bons résultats aux Philippines et a fait preuve de lamême efficacité contre la maladie du sang dans la premièreannée d’expérimentation. Les producteurs semblent satisfaitsde cette méthode, qu’ils ont commencé à adopter. Lesrecherches se poursuivent pour évaluer son impact sur ladiffusion de la maladie.

Au Viêt-nam, un expert associé de l’INIBAP effectue uneétude sur les relations entre les bananiers et les nématodes

grâce à un cofinancement de l’ACIAR et du VLIR.En collaboration avec l’Institut national des sciencesagronomiques (INSA/VASI), il s’agit de cribler les variétéscollectées durant les missions de prospection de 1994et 1995. Les variétés Tieu Xahn (ITC1406), Tay But(ITC1367) et Tien (ITC1368) semblent faire preuve d’unecertaine résistance à Pratylenchus coffeae. D’autresactivités sont en cours : enquête sur les nématodes dansles plantations commerciales de bananiers, en vuenotamment de détecter la présence éventuelle deRadopholus similis, l’un des principaux parasites desbananiers, qui n’a encore jamais été trouvé au Viêt-nam ;établissement de cultures in vitro de Pratylenchus coffeae ;et évaluation des pertes de rendement causées par P. coffeae et Meloidogyne spp.

Afrique orientale et australeLa cinquième réunion du comité de pilotage du réseauBARNESA, tenue au Kenya, a débouché sur larecommandation d’adopter une approche qui soit davantageorientée vers le marché. Dans le cadre de cette réunion, lesparticipants ont suivi un cours qui leur a permis de s’initier àl’utilisation du cadre logique comme outil pour la formulationet la gestion des projets. À titre d’exercice pratique, ils ontélaboré un projet de lutte intégrée contre les ravageurs qui a,depuis lors, obtenu un financement.

Le Centre de recherches pour le développementinternational (CRDI) finance un projet de conservation desbananiers et des bananiers plantain dans la région desGrands Lacs. Il s’agit de favoriser la conservation in situ de ladiversité génétique au travers d’une utilisation durable desressources.

Les objectifs spécifiques de ce projet consistent à :• inventorier la diversité génétique des variétés

traditionnelles ; • établir des indicateurs pour évaluer l’utilisation des variétés

et les pratiques agronomiques des producteurs ; • aider les producteurs et les chercheurs à évaluer et

conserver les variétés de bananiers ; • appuyer des activités de recherche et de conservation à

tous les niveaux.Le projet opérera en liaison avec le programme mondial de

l’IPGRI visant à renforcer les bases scientifiques pour laconservation in situ de la biodiversité agricole.

Dans le cadre de deux projets financés par leGouvernement belge, des variétés améliorées de la banquede matériel génétique de l’INIBAP sont distribuées à desproducteurs tanzaniens. Le Programme de développementcommunautaire de la région de Kagera a ainsi distribuélocalement plus de 20 000 rejets de 20 variétés améliorées.Une forte demande est enregistrée pour les variétés FHIA-17,FHIA-23 et SH3436-9. L’une des ONG participant à ceprogramme, l’Action by Churches Together (ACT), multiplie lematériel avec l’appui financier de la KUL pour le distribuer auxproducteurs de la région d’Arusha. Près de 1500 rejets ontété plantés dans deux exploitations. Les qualitésorganoleptiques et l’utilisation des fruits font l’objet d’uneévaluation.

Afrique de l’Ouest et du CentreDes représentants des SNRA de la région ont participé à uncours de six jours sur la collecte de données de référenceorganisé par l’INIBAP, l’IITA et le CRBP. Ils se sontfamiliarisés avec l’échantillonnage statistique, l’obtentiond’informations secondaires et les critères à utiliser pourplanifier les enquêtes. La collecte de données proprement diteconstituera la prochaine étape.

Quatre espèces de charançons ont été collectées dans desplantations du sud-ouest du Cameroun : Cosmopolites

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sordidus, Metamasius hemipterus, M. sericeus et Pollytusmelleborgi. Parmi ces espèces, C. sordidus est celle quicause le plus de dégâts. Les bananiers plantain y sontparticulièrement sensibles. Un chercheur associéINIBAP/VVOB basé au CRBP mène des recherches enlaboratoire et sur le terrain sur les différentes formes de luttecontre ces ravageurs dans le cadre de l’élaboration d’unsystème de lutte intégrée. Les essais réalisés en 1999 ontpermis d’établir que l’application d’une solution de neem auxjeunes rejets les aide à résister aux attaques des charançonspendant une période allant jusqu’à trois mois. Le neem agitsur le système reproducteur des charançons en réduisant lestaux de fécondité des femelles, de ponte et d’éclosion desœufs. D’autres biopesticides, comme les cendres de bois et lepiment, ont un effet répulsif modéré sur les charançonsadultes. Les recherches se poursuivent pour étudierl’efficacité d’autres méthodes de lutte et la dynamique depopulation de ces ravageurs. Le CRBP, dont le travail est engrande partie axé sur les bananiers plantain, va lancer unprogramme d’amélioration sur la résistance des variétés deMusa aux charançons.

Du fait de la migration massive des populations rurales versles villes, l’agriculture urbaine est en pleine expansion et lesbananiers deviennent un élément familier dans le paysageurbain. Relativement faciles à cultiver, ils produisent des fruitstout au long de l’année. Dans le cadre du projet d’améliorationde la culture périurbaine de la banane, l’INIBAP, avec l’aidedu Gouvernement français, introduit les variétés à hautrendement FHIA-18, FHIA-23, CRBP 39 et Orishele dans lesvilles de Kumasi et de Sekondi-Takoradi au Ghana, ainsi qu’àCotonou au Bénin. Dans le même temps, des techniques demultiplication simples sont enseignées aux producteurs.

La station de recherche agricole de l’université du Ghana amis au point, avec l’aide de l’INIBAP, une techniquepermettant de produire jusqu’à 1000 rejets par an à partir d’unseul rejet de bananier plantain, en utilisant uniquement del’eau de noix de coco. Cette méthode consiste à injecter 6 à8 ml d’eau de coco dans la base du rejet tous les deux outrois jours. Cela a pour effet de ralentir la croissance duméristème apical et de favoriser la croissance radiale, ce quistimule la formation de plantules par les bourgeons axillaires.Après avoir enlevé les nouveaux rejets, on fend leur bulbe eton les fait germer dans de la sciure humide. On a ainsi réussià multiplier les variétés de plantains Apem, Apantu etAsamienu. Des essais sont en cours sur d’autres cultivars.

Information et communicationL’INIBAP a consacré beaucoup d’efforts à développer desoutils de communication électroniques tout en améliorant leflux d’informations en provenance des réseaux régionaux. Unnouveau site Web a été lancé en anglais à la fin de l’année.Les versions française et espagnole seront opérationnelles audébut de 2000. Il est ainsi devenu possible de présenter sur

Internet des informations beaucoup plus complètes sur lesactivités de l’INIBAP, les publications et les projets derecherche. Les bases de données MUSALIT et BRIS,désormais accessibles en ligne, seront régulièrement mises àjour. Il reste à ajouter d’autres éléments tels que le MGIS et lethésaurus sur la banane. Pour ceux qui n’ont pas accès àInternet, l’INIBAP a produit un cédérom (MUSADOC) quicontient la plupart des publications parues en 1998 et 1999(actes et comptes rendus des dernières réunions, guides etfiches techniques), ainsi que les bases de données MUSALITet BRIS.

La base de données bibliographiques MUSALIT et la basede données sur les chercheurs BRIS se sont enrichies durantl’année 1999. MUSALIT contient à présent 5 367 références,tandis que BRIS donne des informations sur 824 chercheurs.L’INIBAP les a toutes deux remaniées pour permettre de lesutiliser avec la version Windows du logiciel CDS/ISIS, Winisis.Ces bases de données sont fournies aux partenairesconcernés, qui pourront y entrer leurs propres données etcommuniquer de nouveaux enregistrements à l’INIBAP sousformat électronique. Les membres du Système régionald’information sur les bananiers et bananiers plantain en Asie etdans le Pacifique (RISBAP) ont été formés à l’utilisation desnouvelles versions des bases de données MUSALIT et BRISau cours d’un atelier organisé en Thaïlande. Ils ont passé enrevue le processus de gestion de l’information au niveaunational et chaque participant a été chargé d’assurer la mise enœuvre de la nouvelle procédure standardisée dans son pays.

Le nombre des abonnements au service questions-réponses et aux périodiques Musarama et INFOMUSAprogresse constamment. Une nouvelle fiche technique a étéproduite sur les parasites Meloidogyne incognita et M. javanica. Les actes de deux réunions sur la lutte intégréecontre les ravageurs des bananiers en Afrique et sur le rôledes productions bananières dans la sécurité alimentaire ontété publiés. Cette dernière réunion traitait pour la premièrefois, des aspects socio-économiques de la production debananes de consommation locale. Plusieurs ouvragesmarquants sont également parus cette année. Les fichessignalétiques de Paul H. Allen ont été rassemblées dans unlivre de 364 pages, coédité avec la FHIA, qui rend hommageau travail de toute une vie et à la contribution de ce chercheurà l’établissement de la collection de matériel génétique de laFHIA. Un autre livre, de Ken Shepherd, présente les résultatsd’un vaste travail de recherche sur la cytogénétique du genreMusa. L’INIBAP a aussi publié, avec l’aide de la fondationRockefeller, la thèse de PhD de D.A. Karamura surl’application de la taxinomie numérique à l’étude desbananiers d’altitude d’Afrique de l’Est (Musa AAA) cultivés enOuganda.

Les aspects communication/relations publiques ont été plusamplement développé au cours de l’année. Le personnel del’INIBAP a reçu une formation dans ce domaine, ce qui acontribué à la multiplication des articles, lettres etcommuniqués sur la banane et la production bananière dansles médias internationaux.

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Durante 1999, las actividades de INIBAP enlas cuatro principales regiones bananeras seexpandieron considerablemente con un totalde 30 proyectos de investigación apoyadospor INIBAP e implementados por programasnacionales que son sus socios en estosproyectos. Entre estos se encuentran 6proyectos en Asia, 10 en América Latina y elCaribe y 14 en Africa. En adición, en Africase iniciaron dos proyectos subregionales,uno de los cuales se enfoca en laconservación de la diversidad de Musa enlas fincas en Africa Oriental, y el otro seconcentra en el mejoramiento de laproducción periurbana de plátanos en AfricaOccidental.

Los niveles de distribución degermoplasma del banco genético de INIBAP,que aumentó hasta alcanzar 6654 muestrasen el transcurso del 1999, refleja laintensidad de las actividades en curso parasuministrar germoplasma a los agricultores(por ejemplo, el proyecto periurbano enAfrica Occidental, la iniciativa de introducirnuevas variedades en Nicaragua, elPrograma de Desarrollo Comunitario deKagera en Tanzania, etc.) y para realizarevaluación e investigación varietal.

Como resultado del funcionamiento de lasredes regionales, alrededor de 440 personasfueron capacitadas con respecto a laproducción de plátanos y técnicas de cultivoorgánico en América Latina, 22 técnicos en Sri Lanka fueron capacitados por virólogos deTaiwan en la indización de los virus, losmiembros del Comité Guía de BARNESAfueron capacitados en el uso de los marcoslógicos, lo que ha traído logros en forma definanciamiento de una propuesta para elmanejo integrado de plagas, y la capacitaciónque han recibido los representantes de losSistemas Nacionales de InvestigaciónAgrícola (SNIA) en Africa Occidental y Central,en la recolección de información crítica, loque les ha permitido empezar a recolectarextensos volúmenes de datos. También serealizaron talleres para discutir el cultivoorgánico de bananos en el Caribe, el potencialde los bananos de cocción para lossubtrópicos y la consolidación de losnombres y sinónimos de bananos en elSudeste de Asia.

Mientras tanto se completó un extensoanálisis de los datos provenientes de la Fase II del Programa Internacional deEvaluación de Musa (IMTP) y sus resultadosse encuentran en proceso de publicación. Tres variedades de la Fundación Hondureñade Investigación Agrícola (FHIA) mostraronser altamente productivas en varios sitios deensayos. Actualmente, varios de los nuevoshíbridos de la FHIA, junto con las variedadesdel Centre de Recherches régionales surbananiers et plantains (CRBP), InternationalInstitute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) y Centrede coopération internationale en rechercheagronomique pour le développement (CIRAD),estuvieron indizados con respecto a lapresencia de los virus y están disponiblespara la evaluación en el marco de la Fase IIIdel IMTP.

Actualmente, se puede obtener un ampliocuadro de todas las actividades de INIBAP,bases de datos y publicaciones en el sitioWeb en Internet. Para aquellas personas queno tienen acceso a Internet, un nuevo CD-ROM, MUSADOC, contiene la mayoría de las publicaciones de 1998 y 1999 y las nuevas versiones de las bases de datos.

Actividades del programa de INIBAPdurante 1999

Manejo del germoplasma de Musa

Banco genético de INIBAPEl número total de accesiones en el banco genético deINIBAP ha alcanzado 1136, con 24 nuevas accesiones en1999, la mayoría de las cuales provenientes de las misionesde recolección en Vietnam. La cantidad del material quesale del banco genético con rumbo a varias partes delmundo se ha duplicado. Se distribuyó un total de 6654muestras. Hubo una gran demanda del material para eltrabajo de caracterización que está realizando CIRAD enFrancia y el Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB) en laRepública Checa.

Dos nuevos acuerdos sobre la adquisición degermoplasma y sobre la transferencia de material fueronintroducidos por INIBAP para el movimiento de variedades

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INIBAP en 1999

mejoradas provenientes de los programas de mejoramiento.Los acuerdos permiten a INIBAP distribuir el germoplasmasin restricciones, aunque obliga a los destinatarios anegociar cualquier uso comercial directamente con losproveedores de germoplasma. También se emplea unacuerdo de transferencia de material del CGIAR, para ladistribución del material de la colección, bajoresponsabilidad de INIBAP.

Se hizo un buen progreso en la evaluación de la salud dela colección de germoplasma. Tres cuartos de la colecciónhan sido indizados con respecto a la presencia de virus, yse confirmó que el 75 % de estos está libre de virus ydisponible para la distribución. Menos del 5 % de 1002accesiones cribadas con respecto a la contaminaciónbacteriana, resultó ser positivo.

Eliminando la contaminación bacterianaEn el banco de datos de INIBAP se establecieron tresprocedimientos para tratar con la contaminación endógenade los cultivos de tejidos con Bacillus o Mycobacterium. Laerradicación exitosa de la infección con Bacillus puede serlograda simplemente aislando y cultivando meristemas de1 mm de tamaño. Parece que el Mycobacterium penetramás profundo en el tejido meristemático y es más difícil deerradicar. Sin embargo, las plántulas cultivadas en elinvernadero hasta que tengan seis meses de edad son unabuena fuente de explantes sanos, que luego podríanrepresentar un nuevo material libre de bacterias.

Para combatir una fuerte contaminación, los cultivos detejidos se tratan con antibióticos antes de intentar elaislamiento o la regeneración de explantes. De una muestrade diez diferentes antibióticos, la rifampicina superó a todoslos demás contra el Bacillus circulans y el Mycobacteriumavium-intracellulare.

Investigación de la crioconservaciónLos esfuerzos que se realizan en la Universidad Católica deLovaina (KUL) han sido enfocados en el mejoramiento de lasupervivencia del material crioconservado después dedescongelación. Durante 1999, se examinaron lassiguientes variables :• tamaño del corte meristemático introducido en el medio

de precultivo• concentración de BA (benzyladenina) en el medio de

precultivo• ausencia de luz durante el período de precultivo• consistencia del medio de regeneración• duración del período de subcultivo antes del precultivo• duración de la exposición en la solución de vitrificación• composición de la solución de vitrificación.

La variación de la duración del subcultivo en un mediocon alto contenido de citoquinina antes de cultivarpreviamente los grupos de meristemas, resultó en unainfluencia significativa sobre la viabilidad después de ladescongelación. Aumentar el tiempo de exposición a lasolución de vitrificación de 30 minutos a dos horas, tambiéntrajo un mejoramiento significativo a la viabilidad despuésde la descongelación. Se necesita realizar másexperimentos para confirmar estas observaciones.

Entretanto, se examinaron los efectos del material deprecultivo en 0.4 M de sucrosa en diferentes cultivaressobre los niveles de aminoácidos libres, azúcares, ácidosgrasos de la membrana y poliaminas. El precultivo consucrosa siempre resultó en un aumento de alanina ytriptofano. Se encontraron altos niveles de triptofano en loscultivares susceptibles al ennegrecimiento y difíciles para lacrioconservación. Se hace necesario concluir, que lasfrecuencias de regeneración después de la descongelaciónestán asociadas con un bajo contenido de serina y altoscontenidos de glutamina, ácido glutámico, isoleucina yaminoácidos totales.

Investigación de los virus de Musa

Virus del rayado del banano (BSV)Se identificaron dos tipos de secuencias integradas de ADNde badnavirus. INIBAP está apoyando la investigación queestá llevando a cabo CIRAD y la cual indica que unintegrante activable es asociado con Musa balbisiana y otrasecuencia parcial y no activable es asociada con Musaacuminata. La hipótesis que se investiga consiste en queM. balbisiana contiene un ‘factor de liberación’ dentro de sugenoma, que es responsable por el desarrollo de laenfermedad del virus del rayado del banano en loscruzamientos M. acuminata, M. balbisiana.

Los investigadores de la Universidad de Minnesota handescubierto diferencias fundamentales entre la secuencia deADN de los integrantes del BSV presentes en lasvariedades con genotipos AAA, por ejemplo, el GrandeNaine y Williams, y aquellos presentes en el Obino L’Ewai.Su conclusión preliminar consiste en que el BSV no fuetransferido de los híbridos AAAB a los genotipos AAA. Por lotanto, la pregunta sobre el BSV - Onne como fuente deinfección del Grande Naine, permanece sin explicación.

Virus degenerativo del bananoContinúa la investigación sobre esta enfermedad que fuereportada por primera vez en 1998, y que causa la muertegradual de las plantas empezando por las más viejas yterminando con las más jóvenes. Hasta la fecha, los casosreportados están confinados a Nigeria. Se desarrolló unantisuero crudo. Parece que el virus está relacionadoserológicamente con los nepovirus. El IITA, en colaboracióncon los centros de indización de virus de INIBAP enAustralia y Sudáfrica están desarrollando un nuevo ensayoserológico o basado en la reacción en cadena de lapolimerasa (PCR) para la indización del virus.

Virus ligero del mosaico del bananoUn nuevo potex virus, reportado en 1998, fue denominadovirus ligero del mosaico del banano (BanMMV). Este virusestá ampliamente propagado en el germoplasma debanano, con frecuencia en infecciones mixtas. INIBAP y laUniversidad de Gembloux en Bélgica están evaluando unprocedimiento para su erradicación basada en los agentesantivirales, dihidroxipropiladenina (RS)-DPA y ribavirina(Virazole®).

CaracterizaciónEl Département des productions fruitières et horticoles deCIRAD (FLHOR) ha desarrollado una técnica exitosa y muyrefinada para identificar los clones de M. balbisiana yAustralimusa, utilizando los marcadores de microsatélitesmarcados con secuencias mediante una electroforesis engel de urea y poliacrilamida no radiactivo (PAGE). Un gel de38 cm permitió una separación más fina de los alelos, encomparación con el gel de tamaño más pequeño utilizadoen años anteriores. Sólo los clones de los grupos másuniformes pueden ser difíciles de analizar.

La citometría de flujo se realizó en 461 accesiones deINIBAP, de las cuales el 8 % mostró una divergencia en losniveles de ploidia del nivel esperado. El valor de estatécnica para el cribado a gran escala de germoplasma esevidente. El procedimiento está siendo personalizado paraexaminar M. acuminata y M. balbisiana y se requiere de unaposterior personalización para poder trabajar con otrasespecies.

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Sistema de informaciónsobre el germoplasma de Musa (MGIS)Actualmente, el MGIS está disponible en una nueva versiónmás amigable con el usuario (MGIS 2.0). A finales de 1999,se mantenían los datos de 3618 accesiones. La nuevaversión de la base de datos fue distribuida a los participantesdel taller sobre los nombres de los bananos en Filipinas y aotros socios que contribuyen con el MGIS.

Mejoramiento delgermoplasma de MusaPrograma internacional deevaluación de Musa (IMTP)Los datos de la Fase II de los ensayos en el marco del IMTPhan sido analizados detalladamente y los resultados estarándisponibles en forma de una publicación de INIBAP aprincipios de 2000. El desempeño individual y lascaracterísticas de las variedades candidatos y de referenciaen un amplio rango de condiciones ambientales, estánpublicados como un catálogo y registrados en la base dedatos del IMTP, que será accesible vía Internet en 2000.

El índice de infección durante la emergencia del racimo y elpeso promedio del dedo proporcionan medidas consistentes deresistencia a la Sigatoka negra. Estos parámetros pueden serutilizados como puntos mínimos de datos para propósitos deuna evaluación simple. Tres híbridos de la FHIA produjeronconsistentemente altos rendimientos y respondieron bien almanejo mejorado a través de los sitios de ensayos.

La mayoría de los nuevos híbridos para su inclusión en laFase III ya están indizados con respecto a la presencia de losvirus. La variedad más prometedora de la FHIA, el FHIA-25,está disponible para su distribución. Nueve híbridos han sidosuministrados por CRBP, IITA y CIRAD, en adición a los tresproporcionados por la FHIA. Los centros de distribuciónregional han sido equipados con tejidos en proliferación ytambién se implementaron otras medidas para racionalizar ladistribución del material vegetal en la etapa de preparaciónpara los ensayos de evaluación.

PROMUSAEl principal enfoque de las actividades en 1999 fue asegurarun eficaz flujo de información dentro del programa.Actualmente, los cinco grupos de trabajo tienen un grupocentral de miembros y un presidente para facilitar lacomunicación y ejecución de PROMUSA. Una propuesta deproyecto presentada al Gobierno francés fue aceptada, lo quefortalecerá la asociación entre INIBAP, la Empresa Brasilierade Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA) y CIRAD.

Los miembros del grupo de trabajo en Mejoramientogenético se reunieron en el “Simposio internacional sobrebiología molecular y celular de los bananos” (InternationalSymposium on the Molecular and Cellular Biology ofBananas) en la Universidad de Cornell. Varios investigadoresde compañías privadas asistieron a la reunión y brindaronuna oportunidad para discutir las asociaciones entre lossectores público y privado. Se acordó que la iniciativa de lagenómica de Musa debería ser lanzada para aprovechar elrápido progreso en la investigación del genoma. El grupo sereunirá por primera vez a principios de 2000.

El grupo de trabajo sobre el Fusarium se reunió por terceravez en el “Seminario sobre el banano y el manejo delmarchitamiento por Fusarium : Hacia un cultivo sostenible”

(Seminar on Banana and Fusarium Wilt Management :Towards Sustainable Cultivation). Se reconocieron lanecesidad de capacitación en las técnicas de análisisgenético y el desarrollo de una base de datos sobre ladiversidad de Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc).También se destacó que los esfuerzos de enlace con el grupode trabajo en Mejoramiento genético, con el fin de identificarvariedades resistentes al Foc, fueron beneficiosos y se hizoun aporte al informe sobre las acciones y oportunidades deinvestigación producidas originariamente por el Ggrupo detrabajo en Mejoramiento genético. Se identificaron lassiguientes áreas prioritarias de investigación :• Desarrollo de una prueba para el cribado de plántulas• Recolección y evaluación de germoplasma local con

respecto a su reacción al Foc• Investigación del Desorden del Falso Mal de Panamá.

La investigación, utilizando los marcadores de AFLP(Polimorfismo de longitud de fragmentos amplificados,Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) realizada por elDépartement Amélioration des méthodes pour l’innovationscientifique de CIRAD (CIRAD-AMIS) en el marco del grupode trabajo en Nematología, confirma los patrones de ladiversidad genética del Radopholus similis que previamentefue ilustrada utilizando el ADN polimorfo amplificado al azar(RAPD) o marcadores enzimáticos. Estos resultados sugierenque el RAPD y los marcadores enzimáticos pueden serutilizados con confianza en los análisis sencillos. La técnicaque emplea los marcadores AFLP es relativamente difícil ysería mejor reservarla para los análisis más complicados.

Mejoramiento de MusaDiversas técnicas para establecer materiales para latransformación genética, a decir, suspensiones de célulasembriogénicas (ECS), están siendo exploradas en la KUL. LosECS derivados a partir de los cultivos de meristemas enproliferación envuelve un prolongado uso de 6-benzaladenina,lo que puede causar una disminución indeseable de laembriogénesis somática. Medios o métodos alternativos noson viables, pero una investigación realizada en 1999, sugiereque al asegurar que el material vegetal del cual se obtienenlos meristemas sea muy fresco, se mejora el procedimiento.

En un gran ensayo sobre la inducción de la embriogénesis,que incluyó más de 9000 cortes, la frecuencia deembriogénesis fue baja (0.4-2 %). El Grande Naine y WilliamsJD mostraron las tasas más altas de éxito. La KUL colaborócon el Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias (ICIA) enTenerife y con el Centro Regional de Africa Oriental y del Surde IITA (IITA/ESARC) en Uganda, para realizar ensayos enlos brotes florales masculinos frescos cosechadosdirectamente en el campo, como una fuente de materialembriogénico. Entre 210 brotes florales examinados deGrande Naine, el 6 % de las manos se convirtieron enembriogénicas y siete en total produjeron material adecuadopara establecer las suspensiones de células embriogénicas.Las plantas derivadas de las suspensiones de célulasembriogénicas de una selección de variedades también hansido enviadas a los sitios en el campo con el fin de cribar conrespecto a la variación somaclonal.

Los registros fotográficos de la evolución de los cultivos demeristemas en proliferación y de los cortes en un medio deinducción de embriogénesis han sido altamente ilustrativos,pero no proporcionaron patrones concluyentes del desarrollomorfológico. La heterogeneidad en los explantes demeristema parece ser endógena, y los patrones de desarrollode los explantes similares morfológicamente pueden serdiferentes y muy impredecibles. Bajas respuestasembriogénicas en los cortes en el medio de inducciónembriogénica impiden hacer cualquier correlación entre lascaracterísticas morfológicas del corte y su capacidadembriogénica.

La transformación genética a través de la introducción deAgrobacterium ha dado buenas tasas de éxito. Los niveles de

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transformación de hasta 100 % se lograron con cantidadesbajas de sitios de inserción. Los intentos preliminares deintroducir genes más bien en los cultivos de tejidos que en loscultivos de suspensiones celulares, también dieron resultadospromisorios.

Noticias regionales

América Latina y el CaribeSe formuló un acuerdo sobre la transición de la Red Regionalde INIBAP para América Latina y el Caribe (LACNET) en laRed de Investigación y Desarrollo de Bananos y Plátanospara América Latina y el Caribe, MUSALAC), que estarátrabajando bajo los auspicios del Foro Regional deInvestigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Agropecuario paraAmérica Latina y el Caribe (FORAGRO). Este movimientoconcluye la iniciativa de INIBAP de reunir todas las redesregionales dentro del marco de los cuerpos apropiados encada región.

Siete nuevos proyectos fueron financiados a través deINIBAP, con el apoyo del Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID, UK). En la región se realizaron cuatrocursos de capacitación sobre la producción de plátanos.Asistió un total de 240 participantes de Nicaragua, Panamá,Venezuela y República Dominicana. Dos cursos sobre la“Producción de Banano Orgánico” se realizaron en Perú, a loscuales asistieron más de 200 agricultores y técnicos,contribuyendo a los esfuerzos de rehabilitar 1000 ha deplantaciones bananeras con cultivos orgánicos. En laRepública Dominicana se llevó a cabo un taller sobre laproducción y comercialización de bananos orgánicos en elCaribe. La experiencia del país anfitrión, uno de losprincipales productores de bananos orgánicos, proporcionóun contexto útil a la reunión. Se hicieron varios intercambiosentre el ICIA en Tenerife y LACNET, incluyendo un taller sobreel “Potencial de los Bananos de Cocción para losSubtrópicos”. Los expertos de todas las regiones del mundointercambiaron sus conocimientos sobre la materia.

La investigación sobre nematodos está siendo llevada acabo por un Científico Asociado de INIBAP/VVOB (VlaamseVereniging voor Ontwikkelingsamenwerking en TechnischeBijstand) en la Corporación Bananera Nacional (CORBANA,Costa Rica). El propósito del trabajo consiste en evaluar lacorrelación entre las cantidades de nematodos, dañosproducidos a las raíces y disminución de rendimientos. Las poblaciones de Radopholus similis y Pratylenchus sp.,procedentes de las áreas productoras de banano en CostaRica, han sido aisladas y multiplicadas in vitro. Losexperimentos se realizaron en las plantas de banano con el objeto de identificar la cantidad óptima de nematodos que podría ser inyectada para obtener los niveles máximos de infestación. Un miembro de INIBAP también empezó atrabajar en CORBANA para investigar las relaciones entre las técnicas de esterilización y el pH del medio de cultivo de tejidos.

Asia y PacíficoLa situación internacional de la oficina de INIBAP en Filipinasha sido reconocida oficialmente en un acuerdo entre IPGRI yel Gobierno Filipino.

Más de 60 científicos y políticos se reunieron en Sri Lankapara revisar la situación de las enfermedades virales debanano. El virus de las brácteas del banano (BBrMV) y elvirus bunchy top del banano (BBTV) son los que prevalecenen el país. Cerca del 80 % de los cultivos están infectados.Se hicieron varias recomendaciones y se celebro un curso detres días sobre la indización con respecto a la presencia devirus. Los virólogos de la Universidad Nacional de Taiwan y

del Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrícolas de Taiwan(HORDI) capacitaron a 22 investigadores en las técnicas deindización basadas en inmunoabsorción con enzimas ligadas(ELISA) y PCR.

Los coordinadores nacionales del Sistema Regional deInformación para el Banano y el Plátano para Asia y elPacífico (RISBAP), fueron capacitados sobre las versionesrecientemente actualizadas de las bases de datos MUSALIT yBRIS en Tailandia. Se celebró un taller sobre los “Nombres ySinónimos de los cultivares de banano en el Sudeste asiático”en Filipinas. Este taller atrajo un considerable interés de losmedios de comunicación fuera de la región asiática, alconocer el público sobre la vasta diversidad de bananos en laregión. De una lista de 296 nombres de cultivares, seestableció que 149 representaban cultivares distintos, de loscuales 81 son endémicos de países individuales.

Una estrategia que se utiliza para combatir el Bugtok, unaenfermedad bacteriana de podredumbre de la fruta, seencuentra bajo evaluación en Filipinas con el fin de utilizarlacontra esta enfermedad sanguínea en Sumatra. La prácticade medios de sanidad y la remoción temprana de los brotesde flores masculinas, que ha ayudado a mejorar el manejo deBugtok, demostraron ser igualmente eficaces contra laenfermedad sanguínea en el primer año de ensayos.Asimismo, los agricultores parecen estar satisfechos con losresultados y están adoptando estas medidas. Actualmente serealiza el monitoreo posterior de la estrategia y de susefectos, sobre la propagación de la enfermedad.

Las relaciones entre los bananos y los nematodos enVietnam están siendo investigados en el Instituto de CienciasAgrícolas de Vietnam (VASI), con el apoyo financiero delCentro Australiano para la Investigación Agrícola Internacional(ACIAR) y el Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR). Uncientífico asociado de INIBAP/VVOB está cribando lasvariedades recolectadas durante las misiones en 1994 y 1995para detectar la resistencia. Las variedades Tieu Xahn(ITC1406), Tay But (ITC1367) y Tien (ITC1368) mostraronalgunos signos de resistencia al Pratylenchus coffeae. Serealizan otras actividades para llevar a cabo una encuestasobre los nematodos en las plantaciones bananerascomerciales, con un enfoque particular sobre la detección dela presencia del Radopholus similis, una de las plagas denematodos más seria, que todavía no se había encontrado enVietnam. Se está estableciendo un cultivo in vitro dePratylenchus coffeae. También se están evaluando laspérdidas de rendimiento causadas por P. coffeae yMeloidogyne spp.

Africa Oriental y del SurLa quinta reunión del Comité Guía de la Red de InvestigaciónBananera para Africa Oriental y del Sur (BARNESA) tuvolugar en Kenia, durante la cual se recomendó que la reddebiera adoptar un enfoque más orientado al mercado. Losparticipantes también asistieron a un curso de capacitaciónsobre el uso de los marcos lógicos en el desarrollo y manejode proyectos. Se desarrolló una propuesta sobre el ManejoIntegrado de Plagas como uno de los ejercicios, la cual hasido exitosa en atraer financiamientos.

El Centro Internacional de Investigación y Desarrollo deCanadá (CIID) está financiando un proyecto de Conservacióna través de la Utilización de Bananos y Plátanos en la regiónde Grandes Lagos. Los objetivos específicos son lossiguientes :• Documentar la diversidad genética de las variedades

tradicionales• Crear indicadores eficaces para caracterizar los factores

que afectan el uso de las variedades y las prácticasagronómicas de los agricultores

• Apoyar a los agricultores y científicos en la evaluación yconservación de las variedades de banano

• Apoyar las actividades de investigación y conservación entodos los niveles.

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El proyecto se unirá al Proyecto Global del IPGRI para elFortalecimiento de la Base Científica de la Conservación InSitu de la Biodiversidad Agrícola.

Las variedades mejoradas, provenientes de germoplasmadepositado en el banco genético de INIBAP, están siendodistribuidas a los agricultores en Tanzania a través de dosproyectos apoyados por el Gobierno Belga. El Programa deDesarrollo de la Comunidad de Kagera (KCDP) distribuyómás de 20,000 retoños de 20 variedades mejoradas en laregión de Kagera. Se generó una alta demanda con respectoa las variedades FHIA-17, FHIA-23 y SH3436-9. Mientrastanto, una de las ONG involucradas en el KCDP, AcciónConjunta de las Iglesias (Action by Churches Together, ACT),está llevando a cabo la multiplicación y distribución delmaterial a los agricultores en Arusha con el apoyo financierodel KUL. Alrededor de 1500 plantas se están cultivando endos fincas y las frutas están siendo evaluadas con respecto asu sabor y uso.

Africa Occidental y CentralLos representantes de los SNIA en la región han participadoen un curso de seis días sobre la recolección de informaciónbase, organizado por INIBAP, IITA y CRBP. Se desarrollarontópicos sobre el muestreo estadístico, evaluación de lainformación secundaria y criterios para la planeación de lasencuestas. El siguiente paso será el comienzo de larecolección de información.

Cuatro especies de picudos negros de banano han sidorecolectadas en campos en el sudoeste de Camerún :Cosmopolites sordidus, Metamasius hemipterus, M. sericeusy Pollytus melleborgi. De estas, el C. sordidus representa laplaga más seria. Los plátanos son los más susceptibles. Elcientífico asociado de INIBAP/VVOB basado en el CRBP haestado investigando diferentes formas de control de plagas,tanto en el laboratorio, como en el campo, como parte deldesarrollo de un paquete de manejo integrado. Los resultadosdel trabajo realizado en 1999 han puesto de manifiesto, quela solución de neem aplicada a los retoños jóvenes puedeayudarles a resistir los ataques de los picudos negros por unperíodo de hasta tres meses. El neem afecta el sistemareproductor de los nematodos reduciendo las tasas de lafecundidad femenina, oviposición y eclosión de los huevos.Otros plaguicidas biológicos, como las cenizas de madera ypimienta, tienen un efecto repelente moderado sobre losadultos. Las investigaciones continúan examinando la eficaciade otras formas de control y las dinámicas de las poblacionesde la plaga. El CRBP, con su fuerte interés en los plátanos,está por iniciar el primer programa de mejoramiento parainvestigar la resistencia a los picudos negros.

La agricultura urbana floreciente como resultado de lacreciente migración humana a las ciudades, produjo un interéscomún sobre las plantas de banano cultivadas en el entorno delas ciudades. Los bananos son relativamente fáciles de manejary fructifican durante todo el año. En el proyecto de laproducción bananera en el perímetro urbano, INIBAP, con laasistencia del Gobierno Francés, está introduciendo lasvariedades FHIA-18, FHIA-23, CRBP 39 y Orishele de altorendimiento en las ciudades de Kumasi y Sekondi-Takoradi enGhana y de Cotonou en Benin. Los agricultores también estánsiendo capacitados en técnicas de multiplicación sencillas.

INIBAP está apoyando el trabajo de la Estación deInvestigación Agropecuaria de la Universidad de Ghana, quedio como resultado el desarrollo de una técnica para generarmás de 1000 retoños por año a partir de un retoño delplátano Apantu, utilizando sólo el agua de coco. La técnicainvolucra la inyección de 6 a 8 ml de agua de coco en la basede un retoño cada dos o tres días. El crecimiento delmeristema apical se vuelve más lento, mientras se promueveel crecimiento radial, lo que da como resultado la estimulaciónde los brotes axilares de los cuales se forman las plántulas.Los nuevos retoños pueden ser removidos, sus cormosdivididos y germinados en aserrín húmedo. Las variedades

Apem, Apantu y Asamienu de plátano, han sido multiplicadascon éxito utilizando esta técnica. Se están examinando otroscultivares.

Información ycomunicaciones sobre Musa

Las principales actividades del año han sido enfocadas sobreel desarrollo de las herramientas electrónicas decomunicación y el aumento del flujo de información de lasredes regionales. Un nuevo sitio Web en el idioma inglés fuelanzado a finales del año. Las versiones en francés y españolestarán disponibles en 2000. Este desarrollo ha permitido lapresentación en Internet de la información, publicaciones yeventos de INIBAP y de la investigación en Musa, de unaforma mucho más amplia de lo que había sido posibleanteriormente. Las bases de datos MUSALIT, la base dedatos bibliográfica y BRIS, la base datos sobre losinvestigadores de Musa, están accesibles en línea y seránactualizadas regularmente. Otros productos, como el MGIS yel Tesauro del banano serán adicionados con el tiempo. Paraaquellos quienes no tienen acceso a Internet, se hadesarrollado el CD-ROM MUSADOC, que contiene la mayoríade las publicaciones de 1998 y 1999, todas las guíastécnicas, hojas divulgativas, las memorias más recientes y lasbases de datos MUSALIT y BRIS.

El contenido de ambas bases de datos, MUSALIT y BRIS,fueron expandidas en el transcurso de 1999. Actualmente,MUSALIT contiene un total de 5367 resúmenes y BRISmantiene información detallada sobre 824 investigadores.Ambas bases de datos fueron actualizadas para la versión deWindows del programa CDS/ISIS, llamado Winisis. Sesuministraron copias de las bases de datos a los principalessocios, quienes podrán ingresar sus propios datos y enviar aINIBAP nuevos registros en formato electrónico. Losmiembros de RISBAP fueron capacitados en el uso de lasnuevas versiones de MUSALIT y BRIS en Tailandia. Se revisóel proceso de manejo de datos a escala nacional y a cadaparticipante se le dio la responsabilidad de establecer elnuevo enfoque normalizado en su país.

La suscripciones al servicio de información y a laspublicaciones regulares Musarama e INFOMUSA están enaumento. Se publicó una nueva hoja divulgativa sobreMeloidogyne incognita y M. javanica. Se publicaron lasmemorias de las reuniones sobre “La movilización de IPMpara la producción bananera sostenible en Africa” y “Bananosy seguridad alimentaria”, donde la primera reunión se refierea los aspectos socioeconómicos de la producción bananerano comercial. Este año también se publicaron varios trabajosúnicos. Las fichas de Paul H. Allen sobre el banano fueronreproducidas en un libro de 364 páginas, en colaboración conla FHIA, como un tributo al trabajo de toda su vida y el papelque desempeñó en el establecimiento de la colección degermoplasma en la FHIA. Se publicó una monografía sobre“la citogenética del genero Musa”, de Ken Shepherd, unasíntesis oportuna de su investigación de toda la vida de lacitología de Musa. Finalmente, con el apoyo financiero de laFundación Rockefeller, INIBAP ha publicado la tesis deDoctorado (Ph.D.) de D.A. Karamura sobre “Estudios detaxonomía numérica de los bananos de altiplano de Africa delEste (Musa AAA – Africa del Este) en Uganda”.

La concienciación pública recibió una intensa atención en1999. El personal de INIBAP recibió capacitación sobre laconcienciación pública, hecho que podría ser responsable delbrote de noticias, cartas y artículos sobre bananos en losmedios internacionales.

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Networking addresses Banana and Plantain · • To organize and coordinate a global research effort...

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