Biotechnology in Banana Improvement

Various biotechnological tools have been developed to help breeders evolve new plant types which can meet the demand of the food industry. Available techniques for the transfer of genes could significantly shorten the breeding procedures and overcome some of the agronomic and environmental problems which would otherwise not be possible through conventional methods. An overview on the regeneration of banana by direct and indirect organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis is presented in this article. Several other biotechnologies, such as selection of somaclonal variants, screening for various useful characteristics, cryopreservation and genetic transformation, can enrich the genome of banana.