Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech hosts the back-up of the world's largest collection of banana plants

More than 300 different banana varieties, belonging to the genus Musa, are now kept at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech. This is a backup copy of Bioversity International's banana collection, the largest in the world.

The area occupied by tropical forests in the world and their biodiversity is strongly reduced due to human pressure. To safeguard the genetic diversity of plants of agronomic interest, plant collections have been established by various international organizations, including the banana collection managed by Bioversity International and hosted at the KULeuven. These plants are maintained under in vitro conditions in the medium term and in liquid nitrogen (-196°C) in the long term. 

This collection contains plants of the genus Musa, corresponding to banana plants cultivated for food all over the world, but also ornamental and wild species collected in the forests. These collections are thus available to researchers, breeders, NGOs, ... 

Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, and more particularly the laboratory of integrated and urban phytopathology, has been active for more than 20 years in the safeguarding of these collections and more particularly in the diagnosis of viruses that can infect these plants. If viruses are detected, the plants are treated to eliminate them and to guarantee the availability of healthy plants by Bioversity International. Plants can only be distributed worldwide if they have received their "health passport" from GxABT.

Since this year 2022, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech also hosts a part of the copy of this international collection of banana plants. The plants are kept in vitro on a culture medium under controlled temperature and humidity conditions that are monitored continuously. This copy allows us to ensure a security back-up of the collection, geographically distant.

The hosting of these plants at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech demonstrates the recognized expertise of Gembloux's researchers and technicians and thus strengthens the institution's positioning and visibility in this field. The infrastructure necessary to host this copy was made possible thanks to the support of the University Council for Research and Development of the University of Liege. The virus detection and plant sanitation activities of the laboratory are grouped within the Germplasm Health Unit which is unique in the world.