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Wild Bananas,

Domestication, Extinction

and Breeding Possibilities

Ivan Buddenhagen

11/2005

Revised 9/2008

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WILD BANANAS

- ANCIENT GROUP

- MANY SPECIES, SUBSPECIES

- NOW RARE, ISOLATED

- EXTINCTION ± 95%

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M. acuminata seedlings in the wild

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MUSA – 4 SECTIONS

- EUMUSA (n=11)

- RHODOCHLAMYS (n=11)

- CALLIMUSA (n=10)

- AUSTRALIMUSA (n=10)

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WILD BANANASNO RESEARCH

- BIOLOGY?

- CLIMATIC ADAPTATION?

- SELECTION FORCES?

- SEED PRODUCTION

- SEED DISSEMINATION

- PLANTS SHORT LIVED

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- NON - PARTHENOCARPIC

- SEED FERTILE

- BAT POLLINATED

- BAT DISSEMINATED

- BIRDS, INSECTS, MAMMALS?

WILDS

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• Bat pollinating

M. acuminata

in Thailand.

Photo courtesy of

M. Tuttle

Bat Conservation Intl.

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MAN’S ROLE IN

EXTINCTION

- MAJOR ELIMINATION OF

HABITAT

- EATING BATS

- HARVESTING BUDS

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NATURAL SELECTION

IN WILDS

• Parthenocarpy Neutral?

• Female infertility Negative

• Seed dormancy Positive

• Seed longevity Positive

NATURAL SELECTION

IN WILDS

- Less height Negative

- Vertical bunch angle Negative

- Vertical peduncle Negative

- Long fingers Neutral

- Pathosystem balance Positive

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DOMESTICATIONMIGRATION OF MAN TO:

– SOUTH ASIA

– SOUTHEAST ASIA

– ARCHIPELAGOS

– NEW GUINEA

SEA LEVEL CHANGES

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

LINGUISTICS

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DOMESTICATION

REDEFINED

- Jungle plant to garden

- Making a clone

- Using Fiber, Leaves

- Migrating with clone

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DOMESTICATION

- EXACTLY WHERE ?

- HOW MANY PLACES ?

- FROM WHICH WILDS ?

- STILL OCCURRING ?

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INTRUSION

- CREATED OUTCROSSING

- TRIPLOIDS

- AA X BB HYBRIDS

- MORE HUMAN SELECTION

- ADDED MORE PARTHENOCARPY

PARTHENOCARPY

- MULTIPLE OCCURRENCE IN WILDS

- SAME GENES?

- INDEPENDENT FROM STERILITY

AND TRIPLOIDY

- FRUIT-EATING BATS/PRIMATES

POSITIVE SELECTION?

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PARTHENOCARPY

- In some wilds?

- Hardly detectable

- Complementary dominant genes?

- No biochemical/molecular

studies

- Present in balbisiana?

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Wild acuminata malaccensis

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Segregating for parthenocarpy and

Foc resistance

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DIFFERENT

PARTHENOCARPIC

ORIGINS IN AAs?- Yes, in different subspecies

- SW India

- SE Asia and Sumatra

- New Guinea

- Philippines

- Do parthenocarpic genes differ?

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- PARTHENOCARPIC

- LOW SEED FERTILITY

- PURE ACUMINATA – AA/AAA

- BALBISIANA HYBRIDS –

AB, AAB, ABB

DOMESTICATES

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

DOMESTICATES AND WILDS

»Parthenocarpy?

»Female infertility

»Height?

»Bunch angle

»Finger length?

DOMESTICATION CREATED

MAJOR DISEASES

IN WILDS:

- Little known of pathogens/pests

- Some co-evolved

- Co-evolution towards balance

- Clonality freezes host evolution

HOW FOR FUSARIUM

WILT?

-By intrusion of clones into

balanced Musa/Fusarium

coevolved sites.

-By intrusion of commensal

Fusaria inside clones.

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HOW FOR BACTERIAL WILTS?

-Intrusion of bananas into new-

encounter situations (bacteria

from other hosts) (Moko)

-Intrusion of new-encounter

bacteria into old banana sites

(Xantho wilt)

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HOW FOR MYCOSPHAERELLA?

- Musa co-evolved pathosystem

- Clonal movement into different

pathogen populations

- Changing ecological dynamics

- Freezing host genes

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THE BALBISIANA ENIGMA

Where truly native, pre-Man?

Why no subspecies?

Does parthenocarpy occur?

Where hybridized with which A’s?

Is it domesticated?

ANSWERS

- Extensive range is largely

clonal introduction

- Usually clonal near towns

- Clones bear empty seeds

-Rare feral seeded populations

derived from clonal

introductions

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ANSWERS

- Greatest diversity with named clones:

Assam

N. Bangladesh

- Truly native:

Himalayan foothills eastward

Arunachal Pradesh (+ E and W?)

Burma/Thailand/S. China interface?

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ANSWERS

No subspecies because:

- Only one wild “population” known -

small area.

- Not anciently evolved in separate

areas.

- Free breeding wilds poorly

sampled/studied.

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ANSWERS

No parthenocarpy?

- Maybe, but contentious

- But, not selected for parthenocarpy

- “Domesticated” for fiber/leaves

- Moved by fisherfolk

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Budless Kepok

ANSWERS

Domesticated?

- Yes - Clonality

- But seeded, so falsely

considered “Wild”

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ANSWERS

Where hybridized?

- Balbisiana intrusion into different

AA wilds and derived clones

- SW India, Sri Lanka

- Philippines New Guinea

- South Burma/adjacent area?

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BREEDING

POSSIBILITIES

- They expand with understanding

- Domestication origins

- Wild origins

- Pathosystem origins

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BREEDING POSSIBILITIES

REQUIRE:

- Exploring/Collecting of wilds

- Connecting clonal A’s to wilds

- Screening wilds properly

- Screening AA diploids properly

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BREEDING STRATEGY

- NEW APPROACH

- LEAVE EXISTING TRIPLOIDS

EXCEPT AWAK

- USE CLONAL DIPLOIDS

- AND

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RESYNTHESIZE

- From original wilds

- Find them

- Rescreen for R first

- Rehybridize

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CREATE ENTIRELY

NEW BANANAS ?

- Find more BBs

- Select & Screen

- Find more AAs

- Select & Screen

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RE-HYBRIDIZE

- Best AAs and BBs to ABs

- Double to ABAB

- Double to AAAA/BBBB

- Create TRIPLOIDS

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BETTER BREEDING

REQUIRES:

- Broader germplasm base

- Better exchange of germplasm

- Wider horizons of possibilities

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Best Banana in my

Germplasm Collection