Transgenic technologies for bacterial wilt resistance

Abstract

Banana production is severely affected by bacterial diseases jeopardizing the food security of millions of inhabitants in countries where farmers depend upon banana as staple food. Bacterial diseases like Xanthomonas wilt, Moko, blood, and Bugtok are the most important diseases threatening banana cultivation in several tropical and subtropical countries. Genetic improvement of banana through classical breeding is difficult due to the lack of resistant germplasm, sterile nature, and long generation time. Transgenic technology can complement classical breeding for developing bacterial disease-resistant varieties. Some success has been achieved for developing host plant resistance in order to control banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease. Currently, the transgenic bananas expressing either sweet pepper Pflp or Hrap gene are under evaluation for resistance to Xanthomonas wilt disease in field trials in Uganda. Management of bacterial diseases through cultural practices like removal of male buds and use of pathogen-free seed material and disinfected cutting tools can contain outbreak of diseases although these are not absolute solutions for control of bacterial diseases. In this chapter, we have discussed various management practices as well as existing transgenic technologies to control bacterial diseases of banana.