Tomato gene may fend banana against formidable fungus
Having shown in a PNAS article that the fungus Cladosporium fulvum, which causes leaf blight in tomato plants, is closely related to Mycosphaerella fijiensis, which causes a leaf spot disease in bananas, scientists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands speculate that the Cf resistance gene of the tomato could provide protection to the defenceless Cavendish banana.

Potential for textile material
A study on the fibre yield of 6 cultivars conducted by Marites de Leon, a researcher at the Philippine Textile Research Institute, has found that the cultivar with the best potential is Saba, due to its low residual gum content.

GM bananas trialled in Australia
Bananas that have been genetically modified to produce increased levels of pro-vitamin A are being evaluated in Australia as part of a project to improve the nutritional content of staple foods consumed in developing countries.

Award-winning article on bananas
Busani Bafana, a Zimbabwean journalist, won the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Award for Excellence in Agricultural Science Journalism. His article, A Better Banana for Africa, details efforts in Kenya to tackle pests and diseases through the use of tissue-culture plantlets.

Best practices for managing banana genebanks
A Crop Genebank Knowledge Base covering nine of the crops conserved by the research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research has been put online by the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme. The site provides information and protocols on the conservation, characterization, regeneration and safety duplication of these crops, one of which is bananas.

Fertilizer use
Scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Uganda have shown that the yield of a banana crop can double when moderate amounts of fertilisers are applied.

Updated January 2010

Bananas resist economic crisis
According to an FAO report presented at the 4th session of the Inter-Governmental Group on Bananas, the demand in bananas is not expected to be significantly affected by the recession. In a separate report delivered at the meeting, the FAO called for more resources to go towards creating a global map of banana and plantain diseases.

Banana liquor with a dash of academia
Scientists from KULeuven are collaborating with Brasserie Improvisio to produce a banana liqueur whose proceeds will support a development project on bananas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.