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Bananas and plantains are both important staple foods and cash crops for millions of people. Bananas are large perennial herbs of the genus Musa. Cultivated bananas are primarily triploids (3x) derived from intraspecific and interspecific crosses of two diploid species Musa acuminata Colla (Ma.) and Musa balbisiana Colla (M.b.) (Simmonds, 1995). In West and Central Africa, plantains provide more than 25% of the carbohydrate requirements for over 70 million people (Vuylsteke et al., 1993). In Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda, consumption of cooking bananas exceeds 200kg per person per year. The spread of the fungal pathogen Mycosphaerella fijiensis Morelet into Africa has lead to serious declines in the productivity of banana and plantain based farming systems, and lead to the establishment of a plantain breeding program at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (HTA) in 1987 (Vuylsteke et al, 1993). Yield losses from fungal pathogens have been the main impetus for the establishment of banana breeding programs throughout the world (Buddenhagen, 1990).The first breeding program was established in 1922 at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in Trinidad to produce dessert bananas resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (F. o.c.) the causal agent of Fusarium wilt or Panama disease (Simmonds, 1966). Breeding at ICTA was latter transferred to the Banana Board of Jamaica (BBJ). A second breeding program was established by United Fruit Company in Honduras to breed for resistance to yellow Sigatoka, Mycosphaerella musicola (Mm.), and Fusarium wilt and was later turned over to the Fundacion Hondurefia de Investigacion Agricola (FHIA) (Rowe, 1984).These early breeding efforts have been reviewed by others (Simmonds, 1966; Sheperd, 1974; Stover & Buddenhagen, 1986; Rowe & Rosales, 1990; Ortiz et al, 1995). The past decade has seen the release of cultivars from breeding programs at FHIA, UTA, the Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Development (CERAD), the Centre Regional Bananiers et Plantains (CRBP), the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Mandioca Fruticultura of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisas (CNPMF/EMBRAPA), the Institute Nacional de Investigacion Viandas Tropicales (INIVIT), and the Taiwan Banana Research Institute (TBRI). These cultivars have resistance to Fusarium wilt, black Sigatoka, or yellow Sigatoka, and many have multiple resistances (Rowe & Rosales, 1996). The methods used to produce these cultivars and the “breeding philosophies” behind them vary greatly. This paper will review the methods and philosophies of breeding for fungal resistance in Musa research, and discuss the future of new resistant banana and plantain cultivars and resistance breeding in Musa.

Tropical and subtropical fruit and starchy root and tuber crops are among the most important components of diets in many parts of the world (Tables 1 and 2). They are also important sources of hard currency income, either from the export of fresh or processed food or from the sale of secondary products. Recent trends in the growth of tropical fruit production suggest that consumers in many temperate countries are discovering tropical fruit (Table 2). There is currently a massive expansion of the tropical fruit industry in Central America, South America and in many Caribbean countries. Most tropical fruit, root and tuber crops have been vegetatively propagated for several hundred, and in some cases, for several thousand years. Clonal propagation methods that have been used have ranged from relatively sophisticated grafting techniques with some fruit cultivars (12) to direct planting of tuber or stem pieces with some of the starchy root and tuber plants. In this way, the unique genetic balance of plant selections has been maintained. With the passage of time, however, many of these clones have become highly vulnerable to increased disease pressure. Classic examples of this phenomenon during the twentieth century have been the devastation of ‘Gros Michel’ banana production in Central America by Panama disease and the more recent epidemic of black Sigatoka disease among cooking bananas (plantains) in the same region. Finally, the spread of acquired systemic viral and bacterial infections has been facilitated by clonal propagation methods. These diseases have become the most important factors that limit production of Citrus, yam, sweet potato, cassava, and various edible aroids.