Symptomless banana suckers sourced from Xanthomonas wilt infected fields are a viable alternative for seed within infected banana-based landscapes lacking access to clean planting materials

Xanthomonas wilt (XW) caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Xcm) is an important constraint to banana production in East and Central Africa. The use of clean planting materials (CPM) for establishing new fields/ re-planting rouged fields/mats is recommended. However, banana is mainly produced by resource-poor small-holder households with no/limited access to CPM. We assessed XW incidence in fields planted with symptomless suckers sourced from fields with >70% XW incidence and the role of Xcm-soil inoculum on XW persistence in North Kivu Province, eastern DR Congo. Symptomless suckers were planted in i) fields previously with banana having >70% XW incidence, 10 days after rouging and ii) fields previously under grass fallow. Symptomless suckers planted in fields previously under grass fallow served as checks. To contrast, healthy suckers and healthy macro-propagated plantlets were established in similar field typologies. Each treatment combination had three replicates of 30 plants. Additional experiments established in September, 2014 in South Kivu Province using symptomless suckers from fields with incidence levels varying from 1 to 90% assessed the reproducibility of the North Kivu results. In the North Kivu trials and when using symptomless suckers, relatively low cumulative XW plant incidences of 3.6 and 4.2% were recorded in fields previously under grass fallow and fields with >70% initial XW-incidence, respectively. The resulting fields were well established, suggesting that suckers sourced from diseased fields could potentially be used in zones with no access to CPM. Even lower incidences (0 to 0.28%) recorded in South Kivu further support this. Plant incidences of 1.8 and 2.9% were respectively observed in previously diseased fields planted with healthy macro-propagated plantlets and healthy suckers compared with zero incidence levels in the disease-free fields, confirming the role of residual Xcm-soil inoculum in infections

Agronomic performance of local and introduced plantains, dessert, cooking and beer bananas (Musa spp.) across different altitude and soil conditions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Open access Journal; Published: 27 October 2016Agronomic performances of local and exotic Musa species were evaluated across seven agro-ecologies in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Generally, all the cultivars performed well. Mean bunch yields varied between 11 and 42 kg across different use groups and agro-ecologies. Introduced cultivars had higher or comparable yields to the local cultivars across agro-ecologies. The exotic beer cultivar ‘NARIAT 27’ generally outperformed other beer types. The green cooking exotic types ‘NARITA 4’ and ‘NARITA 2’ produced bunches of up to 37 and 39 kg, respectively at altitudes of 1066 and 1111 m, though having smaller bunches of 21 to 25 kg, at 900 and 1707 m in comparison to the local type ‘Barhabeshya’ (30 to 37 kg). Yields were mainly influenced by soil factors and altitude. Yields generally increased with increase in OM, N, P, K, Ca, and pH. Altitude had a non-linear relationship with the time from planting to flowering, with the time from planting to flowering declining at higher altitudes. In contrast, the fruit filling phase increased linearly with altitude. Bunch weights of most cultivars declined with increasing altitude; particularly, when N, K, P and OM concentrations were low; possibly because most assimilates go towards sucker development at the high altitudes. For example, bunch weights of ‘Barhabeshya’, ‘Mbwazirume’ and ‘Nshika’ strongly declined (R2 = -0.56-0.99) with increasing altitude. ‘Ndundu’, ‘FHIA21’ and ‘Gros Michel’ thrived well at high altitude sites. Such variations in cultivar adaptability plus cultivar attributes, e.g. height can be exploited by selectively promoting cultivars in specific agro-ecologies/niches

Household uses of the banana plant in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Banana is ranked first among staple crops in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Depending on the agro-ecological conditions, cultivars grown, cultural and socio-economic factors, the use of other banana plant parts other than the fruit, has been widely reported. This has not been documented in this region. This study examined the other household uses of banana in North and South Kivu provinces, eastern DR Congo. Methodology and results: This study was conducted through surveys covering 200 randomly sampled households (with at least 50 banana mats), each in North and South Kivu in the years 2011. Data were collected on the use of different banana parts, other than the bunch, using a structured questionnaire. All the banana parts were found to be useful, though with varying levels of importance. Commonly used parts included the leaves (green/dry), pseudostem and the peels. The corms/rhizomes were the least used parts. The most prevalent uses across plant parts included use for mulch and compost, feed for livestock, construction materials, ropes for tethering small ruminants and play items. A small fraction of the households used male buds for food, feed and medicine. Other uses included extraction of fibre, arts and crafts and use as medicine. Conclusion and application of findings: Culinary and medicinal attributes, use for art and crafts however, look to be underexploited and yet could be of great benefit to resource constrained communities. An in-depth study is recommended especially to verify and understand the culinary and medicinal attributes reported for the different plant parts in the region. Use of the male bud as a vegetable was also reported and could be promoted among communities in the region. The nutrient value of the pseudostem is high and could be promoted as animal feed in this highly populated region to enable zero grazing of small ruminants

Agronomic performance of provitamin A-rich banana cultivars in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Banana researchers have been evaluating the performance of high provitaminA banana cultivars to Vitamin A deficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluated the agronomic performance of six provitamin A-rich banana cultivars originally from outside Burundi and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Growth and yield parameters were collected for the first, second and third crop cycles. Results revealed that growth and yield parameters were significantly affected by the interaction between sites and cultivars. The most promising cultivars in terms of yield were ‘Apantu-AAB’, ‘Lahi-AAB’, ‘Lai- AA’, ‘Bira-AAB’ and ‘Pelipita-ABB’ across all sites and crop cycles. These evaluations provide hard evidence of the high potential for adoption of the most promising cultivars by farming communities

Diversity and morphological characterization of Musa spp. in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo constitutes an area where the East African Highland bananas (Musa-AAA-EA) and plantains (Musa-AAB) meet. However, Musa diversity in this region has never been characterized nor represented in national or international collections, yet increasing human activities and build-up of pests and diseases, especially Xanthomonas wilt of banana and banana bunchy top disease, could negatively affect this diversity. This study assessed, collected and morphologically characterized on-farm Musa diversity in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Musa accessions collected were added to the UCG-Butembo in situ field collection. A total of 90 and 150 farms were assessed, respectively, in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. High Musa variability was observed in both provinces. Forty-one cultivars (six presumed new) were identified in Ituri Province compared to 38 cultivars (13 presumed new) in North Kivu Province. Nineteen cultivars occurred in both provinces. Beni and Lubero territories in North Kivu and Mambasa territory in Ituri Province had greater Musa diversity, varying between 27 and 38 cultivars, approximately double of the number of cultivars observed in the other territories. Twenty-three of the 34 Musa descriptors contributed more to the discrimination of the cultivars identified across the provinces and were therefore used for grouping the cultivars using principal component analysis (PCA). The Morisita index of similarity between Ituri Province and North Kivu Province territories was less than 0.5, suggesting dissimilarity in diversity between these sites. Six cultivars: ‘Kirisirya’, ‘Pakuma’, ‘Nziravahima’, ‘Vuhindi’, ‘Tundu’ and ‘Kisubi musa’ were reportedly at risk of genetic erosion

Diversity of cultural practices used in banana plantations and possibilities for fine-tuning: Case of North Kivu and Ituri provinces, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Diverse cultural practices have been communicated to and/or applied by resource-poor households over the past two decades to improve the overall farm health and crop tolerance to biotic/abiotic factors. This study assessed the current diversity and use of cultural practices on banana fields in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Interview schedules coupled with farm diagnosis were used to take stock of cultural practices. Farmers’ choice of banana cultivars was mainly influenced by bunch size, demand/price, pulp flavor/taste, and juice quality. Availability of planting materials and the lifespan of mats were also important. In contrast, drought tolerance, soil fertility conditions, length of production cycle, and pest and disease resistance were not highly considered. Suckers were the predominant type of planting material used. Banana-bean (in 15 to 39% of farms) and banana-taro-bean (18 to 30%) were the dominant intercrops. Staking of banana plants with bunches was applied by 94 to 95% of the respondents, possibly due to the perceived immediate benefits from bunches. Cutting of green leaves to among other things improve sunlight penetration for legume intercrops which was practiced by 74 to 85% of the farmers. This practice has greatly contributed to the perpetuation of banana Xanthomonas wilt disease (XW) in the region. Male bud removal was applied in 55 to 66% of farms to control XW and improve bunch size. However, 38 to 51% of these farmers de-budded after the recommended time. Other common cultural practices included de-suckering, pseudostem use for mulch and weeding. Strategies for safe application of some of the practices such as weeding, leaf cutting, de-trashing and in light of diseases such as XW are recommended. In addition, some practices such as mulching and male bud removal are knowledge intensive, while others such de-suckering have no immediate perceived benefits to farmers, thus the need to strengthen knowledge extension to enhance their adoption

Pro-vitamin A carotenoid content of 48 plantain (Musa AAB genome) cultivars sourced from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is widespread in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). Unlike in developed countries, where the main source of vitamin A comes from meat, the diet of poor populations in SSA is largely plant based. It is thus important to identify local / popular plants with higher vitamin A content for combating VAD. Banana (including plantains) is an important staple food crop in this region. The identification and promotion of vitamin A‐rich banana cultivars could contribute significantly to the alleviation of VAD in areas heavily dependent on the crop. We assessed pro‐vitamin A carotenoid (pVACs) content in the fruit pulp of 48 local plantains from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, to identify cultivars that could help reduce VAD, especially among young children and women of reproductive age

The performance of a wide range of plantain cultivars at three contrasting altitude sites in North Kivu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Plantains (Musa spp., plantain subgroup in the AAB genome group), an important staple food and income crop for millions of people in Africa and Latin America, grow best at lower elevations (<1,200 m a.s.l.) characterized by high temperatures and humid conditions. In Africa, this includes the Congo basin that has a high diversity of plantains. Plantains are high in pro-vitamin A carotenoid content, and identifying cultivars suitable for mid- to high altitude sites could potentially increase their contribution to reducing the problem of vitamin A deficiency. This study evaluated 52 plantain cultivars sourced from eastern DR Congo (representing the majority of plantain diversity in Eastern DR Congo and less than 50% of the known diversity across the whole of DR Congo) for their interaction and adaptability to different altitudes/temperatures, with the aim of identifying cultivars suited to high/cooler altitudes. The performance of plantains declined with increasing altitude. Highest yields (18–50 tonnes ha-1 yr-1) occurred at 1,066 m compared with 11–35 at the mid-altitude (1,815 m), and only 0.6–3.5 tonnes ha-1 yr-1 at the high altitude (2,172 m) site. Most (65%) of the 52 plantain cultivars performed well at the mid-altitude site. Thus, and in agreement with previous reports on 5 plantains, a broad range of plantains sourced from Eastern DR Congo could be promoted at mid-altitude areas that have traditionally been known to be conducive for only the East African highland bananas (Musa AAA-EAH genome group). Studies to evaluate, at mid- to high elevation, a larger portion of the plantain diversity of the whole of DR Congo and even West Africa are warranted