Abstract
Bananas (Musa spp.), native to South East Asia, have spread worldwide and are integrated into the diets of millions of people in tropical regions. Carotenoid content varies dramatically between different banana genotypes, providing an opportunity for vitamin A biofortification. Polyploidization is a useful tool for crop improvement with potential to generate new diversity, especially in a polyploid crop like bananas. Ten induced tetraploids generated from six diploid banana genotypes were evaluated for their agronomic attributes and fruit carotenoid content in comparison to their diploid progenitors. Tetraploids had distinct plant morphology, but generally displayed inferior vegetative and yield characteristics with 20% lower bunch weights than their original diploids. Similarly, a 50% decrease in fruit provitamin A carotenoids (α-carotene, 13-cis β-carotene, 9-cis β-carotene, trans-β-carotene) accompanied by a corresponding increase in lutein was recorded in induced tetraploids in comparison to their original diploids. Additionally, all lines were subjected to pollen viability tests to assess their fertility. Pollen viability tests indicated over 70% viability for induced tetraploids and diploid controls, suggesting their possible use in crosses. These findings provide a basis for the application of induced polyploidization in bananas to generate useful genetic material for integration in hybridization programmes aiming to produce vitamin A enriched triploids valuable to malnourished populations.
Highlights
Micronutrient deficiency, known as “hidden hunger,” is a major public health concern, caused by inadequate dietary intake of essential nutrients or minerals
Biofortification through conventional breeding is becoming popular as a trusted approach to tackle micronutrient deficiency and breeding programs are utilizing available diversity to enhance micronutrient levels in staple crops
The use of in vitro polyploidization was explored as a breeding tool for banana improvement and the effect of polyploidization on agronomic characteristics and pVACs content of induced tetraploids was determined
Summary
Micronutrient deficiency, known as “hidden hunger,” is a major public health concern, caused by inadequate dietary intake of essential nutrients or minerals. One in three people worldwide are malnourished, with two billion people lacking key micronutrients, like iron and vitamin A (Global Nutrition Report, 2017). Traditional strategies, such as mineral supplementation and food fortification, have failed to completely eradicate micronutrient deficiencies due to lack of economic, social, and cultural mechanisms for efficient implementation. Polyploidization for Banana Genetic Improvement have focused on producing nutrient-rich high yielding crops through biofortification, as a sustainable solution to address micronutrient malnutrition (Bouis and Welch, 2010; Garg et al, 2018). Conventional breeding, which exploits natural genetic variability has been the preferred method for total carotenoids with vitamin A activity (pVAC) enhancement of sweet potato, maize, and cassava, with biofortified varieties already available in farmers’ fields (Bouis and Saltzman, 2017; Garg et al, 2018)
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