Moureen Nansamba

Drought stress greatly impacts banana (Musa spp.) production (Van Asten et al. 2011), limiting its growth and yield. In the East African Great Lakes region, East African highland bananas (EAHBs) dominate the agricultural production systems (Karamura et al. 2012). They are considered endemic to the region with no clear analogues elsewhere in the world. The existing EAHB genetic diversity is limited, as it is only based on somaclonal mutations and continuous farmer selection (Perrier et al. 2011).

Abstract Drought is a major abiotic stress affecting banana production worldwide, leading to yield losses of up to 65%. Consequently, numerous efforts to understand and mitigate drought effects that include developing tolerant crop varieties are ongoing in several banana breeding programmes. The breeding efforts, however, have been greatly slowed down by inherent banana problems (polyploidy and male or female sterility) and complexity of drought tolerance (reportedly controlled by several genes).