Genomics of biotic stress tolerance in banana

Abstract

Biotic stresses are a severe threat to crop yield. A few pathogens and insects have succeeded in affecting the plants severely and ultimately leading to the vast economic loss. Various control measures such as the application of pesticides, insecticides and chemical treatments and introgression of R genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) into cultivars have contributed to some extent to combat the loss occurring due to biotic stress. However, over the years, there is an emergence of new pathotypes/strains/races of pathogens and insects. Hence, there is a continuous search and need to identify genomic regions and new genes that can contribute towards resistance against these pathogens. Recently, the availability of genomic resources for a wide range of crop species has helped us to improve our knowledge towards understanding the concepts on insect-plant or pathogen-plant interactions. In this chapter, we discuss the usage of genomic tools for major biotic stresses employed for banana and highlight various aspects that are contributing towards an understanding of biotic stress tolerance.