Two Belgian scientists flew to Australia at the beginning of the week in search of various species of wild banana, as reported on Friday by the Meise Botanic Garden (Flemish Brabant), one of whose staff members is taking part in the mission.
The aim of the international team deployed 'Down Under' is to find an alternative to the bananas we currently eat, which are vulnerable to emerging diseases.
Climate upheavals such as drought and the emergence of plant diseases and parasites are increasingly posing a threat to feeding the ever-growing human population, explains the Meise Botanical Garden. "We are therefore looking worldwide for new wild species that have the genetic potential to resist these viruses, fungi and other threats," adds Koen Es, a member of staff at the institution.
"In the north of Australia, on the coast, there is a narrow strip of tropical rainforest, and this is precisely where the banksii banana grows. This wild banana is considered to be one of the main ancestors of all our edible bananas", explains Steven Janssens, a scientist at the Meise Botanic Garden. "As well as collecting the seeds, we are also germinating and growing them to study the newly collected specimens in greater depth."
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The collection bank to be housed at the Meise Botanical Garden will be a first for banana biodiversity. It will also make it possible to save the seeds of species that could become extinct.
The Belgian scientists are working for a fortnight with their Australian colleagues from the University of Queensland and a scientist from the gene bank of the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC), as part of a global partnership that brings together international organisations involved in food security research.
In the long term, the idea is to create a more resistant species of hybrid edible banana.
