The BananaTainer: a high throughput phenotyping installation to explore Musa’s growth potential in the East African highlands

The East African highlands, a densely populated area in the African Great Lakes region, are located at high altitudes (900-2000 m a.s.l.) and characterized by relatively low average temperatures (17-25°C). Banana (Musa spp.) is an important component of its production landscape, contributing in Uganda to up to 80% of the caloric intake.
However, above 1500 m a.s.l. the relatively low ambient temperatures slow down the production and the on-farm diversity decreases.
Although enhanced on-farm diversity has been proposed to increase production, little is known on the cultivar-specific agronomic requirements.
High-throughput phenotyping installations with a tight climatic control, are essential to allow fast and early ex situ screening of the diversity with high experimental reproducibility.
In this study, we introduce the BananaTainer as a suitable high-throughput, pre-field phenotyping installation i) to simulate East African highland weather conditions and ii) to evaluate differences in Musa’s low temperature responses.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Adaptation of Horticultural Plants to Abiotic Stresses

C. Gambart, J. Van Wesemael, R. Swennen, S. Carpentier

BananaTainer, canopy growth, East-African highlands, gene bank, high-throughput phenotyping, low temperature response, pre-field screening

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1372.3