Genetic diversity and core subset selection in ex situ seed collections of the banana crop wild relative Musa balbisiana

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) play a key role in crop breeding by providing beneficial trait characteristics for improvement of related crops. CWRs are more efficiently used in breeding if the plant material is genetically characterized, but the diversity in CWR genetic resources has often been assessed poorly.This study presents the genetic diversity's results of seven seed collections of Musa balbisiana, an important CWR of dessert and cooking bananas, originating from three natural populations, two feral populations and two ex situ field collections.