ch. 1. General plant morphology of Musa / Deborah Karamura, Eldad Karamura, and Guy Blomme -- ch. 2. Evolution and genetic relationships in banana and plantains / Uma Subbaraya, Marimuthu S. Saraswathi, and Michael Pillay -- ch. 3. Genetic resources for banana improvement / Markku Hakkinen and Richard Wallace -- ch. 4. Genomes, cytogenetics, and flow cytometry of Musa / Michael Pillay and Abdou Tenkouano -- ch. 5. Genetics of important traits in Musa / Eli Khayat and Rodomiro Ortiz -- ch. 6. Major diseases of banana / Guy Blomme. [et al.] -- ch. 7. Integrated pest management of banana / Thomas Dubois and Daniel L. Coyne -- ch. 8. Reproductive biology / Jeanie Anne Fortescue and David William Turner -- ch. 9. Breeding techniques / Abdou Tenkouano, Michael Pillay, and Rodomiro Ortiz -- ch. 10. Mutations and cultivar development of banana / Shri Mohan Jain. [et al.] -- ch. 11. Biotechnology in Musa improvement / Leena Tripathi -- ch. 12. Genotype by environment interaction and Musa improvement / Rodomiro Ortiz and Abdou Tenkouano -- ch. 13. Quality improvement of cultivated Musa / Edson Perito Amorim. [et al.] -- ch. 14. Postharvest processed products from banana / Cherukatu Kalathil Narayana and Michael Pillay -- ch. 15. Propagation methods in Musa / Michael Pillay. [et al.] -- ch. 16. Hybrid distribution to farmers : adoption and challenges / Abdou Tenkouano, Michael Pillay, and Ousmane Coulibaly -- ch. 17. Molecular breeding of other vegetatively propagated crops : lessons for banana / Michael Pillay, Abdou Tenkouano, and Rodomiro Ortiz -- ch. 18. Future prospects / Rodomiro Ortiz, Michael Pillay, and Abdou Tenkouano.