Exploration of genetic diversity, drought tolerance and Fusarium resistance of wild bananas in Vietnam.

Bananas accommodate the fourth most important global food commodity grown in more than 130 countries in tropical and subtropical regions. Global climate change and the everlasting demand to feed a continuously growing world population puts an increasing pressure on banana breeding and cultivation. In an era of globalization and climate change, it is important that novel and superior alleles are identified and conserved from wild relatives of agricultural crops such as bananas since they hold the key to disease resistance and important responses to abiotic stresses such as water deficit. Northern Indo-Burma, incl. northern Vietnam, is the centre of origin and an evolutionary hotspot of the genus Musa, as a whole, and of one of the ancestors of the edible bananas - M. balbisiana, in particular. The species rich Vietnamese forests do not only provide important ecosystem services, they are also valuable repositories of M. balbisiana genetic resources. The aim of this project is (1) to map Musa genetic resources of Vietnamese origin already available in ex-situ conservation programs, using gap analysis, (2) to gain insight in the distribution of genetic diversity of M. balbisiana using state-of-the-art high throughput sequencing techniques, and to link genetic diversity with (3) drought tolerance and (4) Fusarium wilt resistance. An important aspect consists of knowledge exchange and capacity building between Flemish and Vietnamese partners, each with their unique sets of skills.