Improving bananas for resistance against Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum    
L. TRIPATHI (1), J. Tripathi (2), J. Kubiriba (3), W. Tushemereirwe (3) (1) International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kenya; (2) International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kenya; (3) National Agriculture Research Laboratories, Uganda

Banana is one of the most important staple food crops in Africa. Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW), caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum, is considered as the biggest threat to banana production in east Africa. Its rapid spread has endangered livelihood of millions of farmers, who rely on banana for food and income. The disease has caused estimated economic losses of about $2-8 billion over the decade and significant reductions in production have resulted in price increases. The solutions to control BXW have to be found fast before it could destabilize food security in east Africa. In the absence of known natural host plant resistance among banana cultivars, transgenic bananas expressing Hrap or Pflp genes from capsicum annum were developed. The transgenic plants demonstrated enhanced resistance to BXW in the laboratory and glasshouse tests. The promising transgenic lines were further evaluated in a confined field trial at the National Agricultural Research Laboratory, Uganda. Majority of transgenic lines had significantly higher resistance in comparison to control non-transgenic plants. Several transgenic lines had shown 100% resistance to BXW under field conditions and retained the resistance even in the second and subsequent crops. The BXW resistant transgenic bananas also showed flowering and yield parameters comparable to non-transgenic control plants. Our results confirmed that such resistant varieties could provide solution to farmers for controlling BXW.


Abstract Number: C3-1
Session Type: Concurrent