This document discusses the domestication and breeding of wild bananas. It notes that wild banana species have become rare and isolated, with an estimated 95% becoming extinct, due to habitat loss and other human impacts. The document explores the biology of wild banana species and how human activities have impacted their domestication and led to major diseases in domesticated banana varieties. It considers opportunities and challenges for banana breeding programs in exploring wild species diversity to develop new varieties with improved traits.

1. Wild Bananas,
Domestication, Extinction
and Breeding Possibilities
Ivan Buddenhagen
11/2005
Revised 9/2008
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4. WILD BANANAS
- ANCIENT GROUP
- MANY SPECIES, SUBSPECIES
- NOW RARE, ISOLATED
- EXTINCTION ± 95%

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10. M. acuminata seedlings in the wild
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13. MUSA – 4 SECTIONS
- EUMUSA (n=11)
- RHODOCHLAMYS (n=11)
- CALLIMUSA (n=10)
- AUSTRALIMUSA (n=10)
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21. WILD BANANAS
NO RESEARCH
- BIOLOGY?
- CLIMATIC ADAPTATION?
- SELECTION FORCES?
- SEED PRODUCTION
- SEED DISSEMINATION
- PLANTS SHORT LIVED

22. WILDS
- NON - PARTHENOCARPIC
- SEED FERTILE
- BAT POLLINATED
- BAT DISSEMINATED
- BIRDS, INSECTS, MAMMALS?
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23. • Bat pollinating
M. acuminata
in Thailand.
Photo courtesy of
M. Tuttle
Bat Conservation Intl.
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29. MAN’S ROLE IN
EXTINCTION
- MAJOR ELIMINATION OF
HABITAT
- EATING BATS
- HARVESTING BUDS

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35. NATURAL SELECTION
IN WILDS
• Parthenocarpy Neutral?
• Female infertility Negative
• Seed dormancy Positive
• Seed longevity Positive
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36. NATURAL SELECTION
IN WILDS
- Less height Negative
- Vertical bunch angle Negative
- Vertical peduncle Negative
- Long fingers Neutral
- Pathosystem balance Positive

37. DOMESTICATION
MIGRATION OF MAN TO:
– SOUTH ASIA
– SOUTHEAST ASIA
– ARCHIPELAGOS
– NEW GUINEA
SEA LEVEL CHANGES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
LINGUISTICS
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39. DOMESTICATION
REDEFINED
- Jungle plant to garden
- Making a clone
- Using Fiber, Leaves
- Migrating with clone

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45. DOMESTICATION
- EXACTLY WHERE ?
- HOW MANY PLACES ?
- FROM WHICH WILDS ?
- STILL OCCURRING ?
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47. INTRUSION
- CREATED OUTCROSSING
- TRIPLOIDS
- AA X BB HYBRIDS
- MORE HUMAN SELECTION
- ADDED MORE PARTHENOCARPY
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48. PARTHENOCARPY
- MULTIPLE OCCURRENCE IN WILDS
- SAME GENES?
- INDEPENDENT FROM STERILITY
AND TRIPLOIDY
- FRUIT-EATING BATS/PRIMATES
POSITIVE SELECTION?

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50. PARTHENOCARPY
- In some wilds?
- Hardly detectable
- Complementary dominant genes?
- No biochemical/molecular
studies
- Present in balbisiana?
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51. Wild acuminata malaccensis
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53. Segregating for parthenocarpy and
Foc resistance
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55. 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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56. DOMESTICATES
- PARTHENOCARPIC
- LOW SEED FERTILITY
- PURE ACUMINATA – AA/AAA
- BALBISIANA HYBRIDS –
AB, AAB, ABB
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57. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
DOMESTICATES AND WILDS
»Parthenocarpy?
»Female infertility
»Height?
»Bunch angle
»Finger length?
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58. DOMESTICATION CREATED
MAJOR DISEASES
IN WILDS:
- Little known of pathogens/pests
- Some co-evolved
- Co-evolution towards balance
- Clonality freezes host evolution

59. 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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61. 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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63. HOW FOR MYCOSPHAERELLA?
- Musa co-evolved pathosystem
- Clonal movement into different
pathogen populations
- Changing ecological dynamics
- Freezing host genes

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65. THE BALBISIANA ENIGMA
Where truly native, pre-Man?
Why no subspecies?
Does parthenocarpy occur?
Where hybridized with which A’s?
Is it domesticated?

66. ANSWERS
- Extensive range is largely
clonal introduction
- Usually clonal near towns
- Clones bear empty seeds
-Rare feral seeded populations
derived from clonal

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71. 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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72. 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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73. ANSWERS
No parthenocarpy?
- Maybe, but contentious
- But, not selected for parthenocarpy
- “Domesticated” for fiber/leaves
- Moved by fisherfolk
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76. Budless Kepok
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77. ANSWERS
Domesticated?
- Yes - Clonality
- But seeded, so falsely
considered “Wild”

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79. 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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81. BREEDING
POSSIBILITIES
- They expand with understanding
- Domestication origins
- Wild origins
- Pathosystem origins
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82. BREEDING POSSIBILITIES
REQUIRE:
- Exploring/Collecting of wilds
- Connecting clonal A’s to wilds
- Screening wilds properly
- Screening AA diploids properly
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83. BREEDING STRATEGY
- NEW APPROACH
- LEAVE EXISTING TRIPLOIDS
EXCEPT AWAK
- USE CLONAL DIPLOIDS
- AND
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84. RESYNTHESIZE
- From original wilds
- Find them
- Rescreen for R first
- Rehybridize
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85. CREATE ENTIRELY
NEW BANANAS ?
- Find more BBs
- Select & Screen
- Find more AAs
- Select & Screen
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86. RE-HYBRIDIZE
- Best AAs and BBs to ABs
- Double to ABAB
- Double to AAAA/BBBB
- Create TRIPLOIDS
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87. BETTER BREEDING
REQUIRES:
- Broader germplasm base
- Better exchange of germplasm
- Wider horizons of possibilities
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88. Best Banana in my
Germplasm Collection
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