Leading scientists presented their research in banana disease management and new disease-resistant banana varieties to delegates at the biennial Australian Banana Industry Congress in Sydney on 21 June.
French scientist Dr Frédéric Bakry and US professor Randy Ploetz have focused on banana plant health and finding hybrids resistant to Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4), also known as fusarium wilt – a disease which has already decimated Cavendish banana plantations in Australia, Asia and parts of the Middle East.
Part of the research has been on understanding more about Panama TR4, which would give growers better information on how to contain the disease.
“People have forgotten that once you have this disease in the area, the only way to solve the problem is to produce disease resistance in plants,” Ploetz said. “Creating a plant with the appropriate disease resistance requires that rudimentary knowledge of the disease itself.
“We have previously only had primitive research tools that we can use in the assessment of Panama TR4 – we need to develop those tools to learn more about it, so we can manage it.”
Their research also covered effective on-farm biosecurity practices, developing early tools for detection and developing varieties of the plants with improved tolerance.
Ahead of the congress, Ploetz and Bakry spent a week travelling through North Queensland’s banana producing regions, meeting with local scientists for insights into the country’s banana production and biosecurity practices.
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