Breeding banana (Musa spp.) for drought tolerance: A review

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). This review summarizes the pertinent research findings on water requirements of banana for its proper growth and productivity, symptoms of drought‐sensitive varieties and field management strategies to cope with drought stress. The coping strategies deployed by resistant cultivars include high assimilation rates and water retention capacity as well as minor losses in leaf area and gaseous exchange. Reduced bunch weight, leaf chlorosis, wilting and strangled birth are underlined to be directly associated with drought susceptibility. Integration of conventional, molecular breeding and biotechnological tools as well as exploitation of the existing banana genetic diversity presents a huge opportunity for successful banana improvement

Voluntary feed intake and leptin sensitivity in ad libitum fed obese ponies following a period of restricted feeding: a pilot study

The relation between plasma leptin and daily ad libitum roughage intake was evaluated during a 14-day period in eight obese Shetland ponies. When the feeding strategy was changed from maintenance feeding to ad libitum feeding, feed intake increased the first day, decreased the second day and increased again during the following days to reach a constant level after 8 days. Plasma leptin concentration increased during the first 2 days, but remained constant afterwards. Although the same pattern was found in all ponies, the magnitude of the increase in leptin on day 1 and the resulting decrease in feed intake on day 2 differed between ponies. A lower anorectic effect was seen in ponies with higher initial leptin concentration, suggesting the presence of different degrees in leptin sensitivity in obese ponies. High leptin production in a attempt to compensate for the decrease in leptin sensitivity might explain large variations in plasma leptin among obese ponies with similar body condition score. Further research is necessary to clarify whether the reduced leptin sensitivity precedes obesity in equines or vice versa