Screening for tolerance against fusarium wilt of banana in Malaysia
1999
Lee, Y. M. | Prado, Felix Jr. | Teo, Leng | Ong, K. P.
Cavendish banana (Grand Nain cultivar) was earlier thought to be resistant to Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, race 4) which was known to be present in Malaysia. Hence it was not considered a potential problem unlike Sigatoka leaf disease in the project evaluation for commercial scale of cultivation. As a result, Grand Nain was introduced for the first time ever in Malaysia. A farm of 349 hectares was thus established using tissue-cultured material under drip irrigation. Contrary to the above belief, the disease was detected 6 months after the first planting. The pathogen was diagnosed as Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense VCG 01213 and 01216. Spread of the disease intensified exponentially and increased to 32.2% at the end of the 4 years period. Spread of the Fusarium chlamydospores was seemingly aggravated by irrigation.This paper also discusses the control measures taken including in situ burning, removal of diseased tissue, formalin drenching, fumigation, liming and fungicide drenching. All attempts proved futile and control through planting resistant varieties appeared to be the sole solution. Tolerant planting material were developed from somaclonal variants and breeding cultivars from overseas were also evaluated. From the 5 somaclonal variants; labeled EPA 1 to EPA 5, EPA I and EPA 2 were found to be tolerant as compared to Grand Nain. Gold Finger (FHIA-Ol) was also found to exhibit reasonable degree of tolerance.
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