Elsevier

Crop Protection

Volume 73, July 2015, Pages 7-15
Crop Protection

Management of Fusarium wilt of banana: A review with special reference to tropical race 4

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2015.01.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fusarium wilt is a lethal constraint in banana (Musa spp.) production.

  • Tropical race 4 affects important banana cultivars in the Cavendish subgroup.

  • The perennial crop and polycyclic disease hinder development of management strategies.

  • Effective biological, chemical and cultural measures are not available.

  • Better resistance is needed to this disease, especially that that is caused by TR4.

Abstract

Banana (Musa spp.) is an important cash and food crop in the tropics and subtropics. Fusarium wilt, which is also known as Panama disease, is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). It is one of the most destructive diseases of this crop, and has a relatively wide host range. Its greatest impact was on the early ‘Gros Michel’-based export trades. Resistant cultivars of the Cavendish subgroup were used to replace ‘Gros Michel,’ but are now succumbing to a new variant of the pathogen, tropical race 4 (TR4). Although TR4 is only found in the Eastern Hemisphere, it threatens global export and small-holder production of the Cavendish cultivars. Management of this disease is largely restricted to excluding the pathogen from non-infested areas and the use of resistant cultivars where Foc is established. The perennial production of this crop and the polycyclic nature of this disease hinder the development of other management strategies. Measures that are effective against annual or short-lived hosts of these diseases are usually ineffective against Fusarium wilt of banana. Effective biological, chemical and cultural measures are not available, despite a substantial, positive literature on these topics. Critical evaluations of, and realistic expectations for, these measures are needed. Better resistance is needed to this disease, especially that that is caused by TR4.

Introduction

Fusarium wilt is one of the most destructive diseases of banana (Ploetz and Pegg, 2000). The pathogen probably originated in Southeast Asia (Ploetz and Pegg, 1997, Ploetz, 2007, Stover, 1962, Vakili, 1965), but the disease was first recognized elsewhere. Bancroft's (1876) initial description from Australia was followed by reports from tropical America (Costa Rica and Panama in 1890) (Stover, 1962). A dramatic increase in the number of new records occurred in the early 1900s, most of which described damage in export plantations (Ploetz, 1992, Ploetz and Pegg, 2000, Stover, 1962). Currently, the disease is found in virtually all areas where banana is grown.

The importance and origins of the banana host are described in this review, especially as they relate to the impact of this disease. Genetic and pathogenic diversity is described in the causal agent, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), as is the host × pathogen interaction. Remaining sections in the review are devoted to descriptions and evaluations of various disease management strategies. Effective, long-term management of Fusarium wilt of banana remains a challenge, due largely to the perennial host plant (Ploetz and Evans, 2015, Ploetz and Pegg, 2000). Tactics for Fusarium wilt management on short cycle hosts (e.g. tomato or radish) are often ineffective over the multiple years that a banana crop is grown.

Section snippets

The banana host

Banana ranks among the world's most valuable primary agricultural commodities. In 2011, combined global production was about 145 million tonnes with a gross production value of US$44.10 billion (FAOSTAT, 2013). Bananas are the eighth most important food crop in the world and the fourth most important among the world's least-developed countries.

About 87% of the bananas that are produced worldwide are consumed by producers or sold in local or regional markets (FAOSTAT, 2013). Locally consumed

Fusarium wilt of banana

Simmonds (1966) described Fusarium wilt of banana as one of the most destructive of all plant diseases, due mainly to its impact on the ‘Gros Michel’-based export trades. Until ca 1960, the export trades relied almost entirely on ‘Gros Michel’, which is highly productive but susceptible to race 1 of Foc. Monocultures of it that were used in export production facilitated the disease's rapid development and spread in the American and African trades, and the establishment of plantations with

Discussion

Fusarium wilt of banana caused an estimated US$2 billion in losses during the ‘Gros Michel’ era (Ploetz, 2005). Given the current annual value of export production and the great importance of Cavendish for small-holders, it is possible that TR4 will eventually cause even greater losses. To date, few figures are available. In Cavendish plantations in Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia, Hermanto et al., 2011 and Peng et al., 2013 estimated losses of USD$121 million and USD$253 million, respectively

Conclusions

Fusarium wilt is one of the most destructive diseases of banana. A newly recognized variant of the pathogen, TR4, threatens global production of Cavendish and other important genotypes. Although TR4 is restricted to the Eastern Hemisphere, its recent range expansion into Africa and Western Asia indicates that further movement is possible. The great concern is that it will eventually move into other unaffected areas, including the Indian subcontinent and the Americas.

Despite decades of research,

Acknowledgments

The author recognizes Harry Stover's profound and still relevant research on this disease. Rony Swennen is thanked for information on propagating clean seed pieces of banana from tissue culture plantlets.

References (125)

  • A.P. Aquino et al.

    R&D and Policy Directions for Effective Control of Fusarium Wilt Disease of Cavendish Banana in the Asia-pacific Region

    (2013)
  • J. Bancroft

    Report of the board appointed to enquire into the cause of disease affecting livestock and plants

  • C.H. Beckman

    The Nature of Wilt Disease of Plants

    (1987)
  • C.H. Beckman

    Host responses to the pathogen

  • A. Belgrove et al.

    Evaluation of nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum and Pseudomonas fluorescens for Panama disease control

    Plant Dis.

    (2011)
  • S. Bentley et al.

    Genetic variation among vegetative compatibility groups of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense analyzed by DNA fingerprinting

    Phytopathology

    (1998)
  • E.W.A. Boehm et al.

    Statistical analysis of electrophoretic karyotype variation among vegetative compatibility groups of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense

    Molec. Plant Microbe Interact.

    (1994)
  • A.J.D.S. Borges et al.

    Reduction of fusarium wilt of “banana-maca” by inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

    Pesqui. Agropecu. Bras.

    (2007)
  • E.W. Brandes

    Banana wilt

    Phytopathology

    (1919)
  • I.W. Buddenhagen

    Banana breeding and fusarium wilt

  • I.W. Buddenhagen

    Understanding strain diversity in Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense and history of introduction of “Tropical Race 4” to better manage banana production

    Acta Hort.

    (2009)
  • D. Butler

    Fungus threatens top banana

    Nature

    (2013)
  • L. Cao et al.

    Isolation of endophytic actinomycetes from roots and leaves of banana (Musa acuminata) plants and their activities against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense

    World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

    (2004)
  • T.-Y. Chuang

    Studies on the soils suppressive to banana fusarium wilt II. Nature of suppression to race 4 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense in Taiwan soils

    Plant Prot. Bull. (Taiwan)

    (1988)
  • B.K. Dadzie

    Post-harvest Characteristics of Black Sigatoka Resistant Banana, Cooking Banana and Plantian Hybrids. Technical Guidelines INIBAP 4

    (1998)
  • J.W. Daniells et al.

    Banana varieties and Foc in Indonesia – observations from Fusarium wilt disease databases

    Acta Hort.

    (2011)
  • L.E. Datnoff et al.

    Silicon and plant disease

  • A.J. Davis et al.

    Sensitivity of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp cubense to phosphonate

    Plant Pathol.

    (1994)
  • M.A. Dita et al.

    A molecular diagnostic for tropical race 4 of the banana Fusarium wilt pathogen

    Plant Pathol.

    (2010)
  • W.H. Elmer

    Biology and epidemiology

  • W.H. Elmer

    Cultural practices

  • FAOSTAT, 2013....
  • E.M.M. Fishal et al.

    Induction of tolerance to Fusarium wilt and defense-related mechanisms in the plantlets of susceptible Berangan banana pre-inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. (UPMP3) and Burkholderia sp. (UPMB3)

    Agric. Sci. China

    (2010)
  • A.A. Fortunato et al.

    Silicon suppresses Fusarium wilt development in banana plants

    J. Phytopathol.

    (2012)
  • A.A. Fortunato et al.

    Physiological and biochemical aspects of the resistance of banana plants to Fusarium wilt potentiated by silicon

    Phytopathology

    (2012)
  • D. Fravel et al.

    Fusarium oxysporum and its biocontrol

    New Phytol.

    (2003)
  • F.A. Garcia et al.

    First report of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.cubense tropical race 4 associated with Panama disease of banana outside Southeast Asia

    Plant Dis.

    (2014)
  • K.S. Gerlach et al.

    Investigation of non-pathogenic strains of Fusarium oxysporum for suppression of Fusarium wilt of banana in Australia, 28

  • K. Getha et al.

    Antagonistic effects of Streptomyces violaceusniger strain G10 on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense race 4: indirect evidence for the role of antibiosis in the antagonistic process

    J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

    (2002)
  • S.B. Ghag et al.

    Petunia floral defensins with unique prodomains as novel candidates for development of Fusarium wilt resistance in transgenic banana plants

    PLoS One

    (2012)
  • C. Hennessy et al.

    Weed hosts of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 in northern Australia

    Australas. Plant Pathol.

    (2005)
  • C. Henriet et al.

    Effects, distribution and uptake of silicon in banana (Musa spp.) under optimal conditions

    Plant Soil

    (2006)
  • J.A. Herbert et al.

    Short-term control of Panama disease of bananas in South Africa

    Phytophylactica

    (1990)
  • C. Hermanto et al.

    Pre-planting treatments for management of banana fusarium wilt

    ARPN J. Agric. Biol. Sci.

    (2012)
  • C.-H. Hu et al.

    An efficient protocol for the production of chit42 transgenic Furenzhi banana (Musa spp. AA group) resistant to Fusarium oxysporum

    In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant

    (2013)
  • B.Z. Huang et al.

    Preliminary evaluation of IMTP-III varieties and local cultivars against Fusarium wilt disease in South China

  • S.-C. Hwang et al.

    Cavendish banana cultivars resistant to Fusarium wilt acquired through somaclonal variation in Taiwan

    Plant Dis.

    (2004)
  • K.W. Jones et al.

    Silicon enhances tolerance of banana to Fusarium wilt

    (2011)
  • E.G. Kidane et al.

    Integrated control of Fusarium wilt of banana (Musa spp.)

    Acta Hort.

    (2010)
  • R. Koenig et al.

    Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense consists of a small number of divergent and globally distributed lineages

    Phytopathology

    (1997)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text