S02 - Session O3 - Where and how to collect wild banana genetic resources

Authors: Simon Kallow, Arne Mertens, Filip Vandelook, Steven Janssens, Bart Panis *

Despite being among the most important crops globally, banana and plantain crop wild relatives are largely under-represented in seed banks. Main bottlenecks are the restricted access to wild germplasm, as growing areas are often inaccessible, but also difficulties in germplasm exchange between countries. Additionally, the germination rate of Musa seeds is low and erratic, partially caused by using suboptimal harvesting times and post-harvest treatments. Finally, there is a lack of understanding in the genetics of wild banana populations; how diverse are they, how many seeds, bunches and/or plants within a population need to be collected to ensure that most of the population's genetic diversity is represented. In this presentation, we will highlight some of these issues. We executed a conservation prioritization and gap analysis of Musaceae taxa to define which Musa species are endangered and which areas should be prioritized for collection. Then we will describe some key elements that should be considered when collecting wild bananas in the forest. The most important and challenging factor is to harvest seeds at the right stage of maturity. Not fully mature bunches will give rise to seeds that will not germinate nor survive storage at -20░C. A second factor that should be considered when collecting CWR germplasm is differentiating between self and cross-pollinated banana wild relatives. This factor has significant consequences with respect to how many bunches and seeds are needed to represent regional alleles.