Abstract
With the notable exception of papaya, there have been relatively few successes involving the application of biotechnology to other tropical and subtropical fruits. There are several reasons this. Papaya, because of its short generation cycle, has a long history of conventional breeding, and so the limitations of this approach are well documented. Together with pineapple and Musa (bananas and plantains) among the major tropical and subtropical fruit crops, the papaya is herbaceous, and can be manipulated in vitro more readily than woody perennial species. At this time, we can expect imminent breakthroughs with genetic transformation of Musa (bananas and plantains), citrus, mango, avocado and pineapple. This paper examines the likely impact of traditional biotechnologies, such as somatic hybridization and in vitro mutation induction and selection, and asks whether these traditional in vitro approaches can compete with genetic transformation? It is also necessary to consider how public will opinion influence the application of biotechnology to tropical and subtropical fruit crop improvement.
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