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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Breeding

Advances and Prospects of Genomic-Assisted Breeding in Roots, Tubers, and Banana (RTB) Crops

Provisionally accepted
Paterne Angelot AGREPaterne Angelot AGRE1*Brigitte UwimanaBrigitte Uwimana2Edwige Gaby Nkouaya MbanjoEdwige Gaby Nkouaya Mbanjo3Morag E FergusonMorag E Ferguson4Ranjana BhattacharjeeRanjana Bhattacharjee3Moses NyineMoses Nyine3Vishnuvardhan Reddy BandaVishnuvardhan Reddy Banda3Prasad PetetiPrasad Peteti3Mouritala SikirouMouritala Sikirou3Siraj Ismail KayondoSiraj Ismail Kayondo5Delphine Mutanga AmahDelphine Mutanga Amah3Yao KolumbiaYao Kolumbia3Michael BatteMichael Batte3Jaindra Nath TripathiJaindra Nath Tripathi3Gloria Valentine NakatoGloria Valentine Nakato2Trushar ShahTrushar Shah4Rony SwennenRony Swennen5Asrat AsfawAsrat Asfaw3Ismail RabbiIsmail Rabbi3Leena TripathiLeena Tripathi4Hapson MushoriwaHapson Mushoriwa3
  • 1International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 2International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
  • 3International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 4International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 5International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

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Roots, Tubers, and Bananas (RTB), including banana and plantain, cassava, yam, sweetpotato, and potato crops, share several defining features that set them apart from cereals and legumes. They are essential for food and nutritional security for hundreds of millions of people, especially in developing countries. Despite their significance, RTB crop breeding has lagged due to the complexity of genetics and the use of vegetative propagation. Recent advancements in genomics-assisted breeding (GAB) offer opportunities to accelerate genetic gains. This review provides an updated synthesis of genomic tools and associated strategies applied in RTB breeding, with a focus on banana and plantain, cassava, and yam. It spans the recent development and application of genomic tools, from diversity studies and trait discovery to marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, pan-genomics, and gene editing. It also highlights the efforts to modernize RTB breeding through program optimization and digital tool integration. The review concludes by suggesting future directions for sustainable impact.

Keywords: Accelerated breeding, Advanced breeding, Breeding optimization, Genomic-assisted breeding, RTB

Received: 11 Nov 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.

Copyright: © 2026 AGRE, Uwimana, Nkouaya Mbanjo, Ferguson, Bhattacharjee, Nyine, Banda, Peteti, Sikirou, Kayondo, Amah, Kolumbia, Batte, Tripathi, Nakato, Shah, Swennen, Asfaw, Rabbi, Tripathi and Mushoriwa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Paterne Angelot AGRE

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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