Project Title: Profiling, genetic, and functional analysis of abaca (Musa textilis Née) responses to drought and bunchy top disease stresses

​Project Leader: Cris Francis C. Barbosa

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Executive Summary:

Abaca (Musa textilis Née) is an economically fibercrop endemic to the Philippines (Lasalita-Zapico & Aguilar, 2014). It is primarily harvested for its fiber, the Manila hemp, and is the source of income to around 130,000 abaca farmers (PhilFIDA Report, 2021). Abaca fiber production, however, is plagued by viral diseases that cause severe yield losses, aggravated by the inability of abaca to withstand extreme environmental conditions like drought. Due to these problems, the Philippine’s abaca genetic resources need to be exploited to identify varieties/accessions with disease resistance and climate resilience, together with their underlying physiological and molecular mechanisms. With this, the multi-omics technology can be taken advantage of, such as genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics. These will be instrumental in elucidating genetic links to drought and disease resistance, and relevant gene regulatory mechanisms and hormonal activities. This project shall therefore utilize these technologies to profile six selected abaca varieties and accessions in terms of their abiotic (drought) and biotic (ABTV/BBTV) stress responses. The information, resources, and technologies that will be generated in this project will enhance the capability of PhilFIDA for abaca genetic resources management important for breeding, crop improvement, and ultimately, for sustainability in the Philippine Abaca Industry.