momoese

Dan is the author of the new book, "Banana". I don't agree with everything he has to say but it was interesting to hear him interviewed anyway. Just click on the "listen" or "podcast" links and the interview is about a 1/4 of the way into the show.

Harvey if your interested they also interview the Bison farmer who I buy my meat from that I told you about at the beginning of the show. Pretty interesting!



http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/...lakshmi_bye_by

john_ny

Very interesting. I can't say that I agree with everything he has to say either. For example he mentioned that early in the twentieth century, an early banana, the Gros Michel, was destroyed by this fungus. I posted a picture, in the Wicki, of me, in St. Lucia, with some Gros Michel, in the 1970's. They were all over, down there, and I think they're still growing them.

He also said that all the bananas we get are Cavendish. I don't know, but is Gran Nain a Cavendish?

Another thing he said was that bananas were the most popular fruit in the world. I had heard, previously, (don't know which one is right) that, in the U. S., bananas were the most eaten fruit but, world-wide, it was mangoes.

It'll be interesting to see what others think.

John

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John

momoese

While I have not read the book I was a little surprised that he never mentioned the FHIA program and the success they have had in creating not only a Panama but also Black Sigatoka resistant that's already popular with locals and market ready according to Dr Phillip Rowe who heads up the FHIA banana program.

The way he talks leads me to believe that he might be a shill for the GMO corporations. Of course like I said, I have not read the book so he might make mention of the program there. Has anyone read it yet?

mskitty38583

i was waiting for him to say something about gmo bananas. and sure enough he did. is nothing sacrad? so i dont know if the cavandish is becoming extint because of panama diease, but i to thought that the bananas we get here were gain nain. i still want cavandish nanas, ill grow them in the house. mysore, bouble mohi, williams, these are all cavandish nanas, so what does he mean about finding new bananas to sell? that is a huge family line. i guess i lost something in the translation. so are cavandish becoming extinct?" and i have seen stickers on my nanas that say chiquita, dole and consuelo. ive not seen the bonnita stickers. some of the things he said are quite possible true...however like yall, i dont agree w/ everything he was saying. thanks for posting that it was interesting.

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Gabe15

This is the same misinformed, half story that was published in Popular Science. I canʻt help but laugh a little, I guess its a matter of perspective. Will the Cavendish go extinct? NO! (Gros Michel is not extinct, its just not planted commercially).Will it come to a point where it can no longer be grown commercially on a large scale in some parts of the world? YES! (most likely). Are there other types? YES! Can they be successfully grown on a large scale? YES! Will the major companies switch to them? APPARENTLY NOT! This kind of stuff just frustrates me, I mean, I understand that it kinda needs to be dumbed down for the non-banana scientist, but come on, I feel like half of the science is just being thrown out the window!

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

inkcube

my current research is GMO plantains, resistant to black sigatoka. having grown up around plantations i have seen many crops and farmers devastated by this fungus. Honduras & Leuven University worked hard to develop a plantain that was resistant - my plantains came from Honduras. i can tell you this, cavendish is next.

my father used to tell us about how in the 50s, the most common banana variety grown in Costa Rica, Gros Michel, was completely wiped-out by Panama disease. our family business was almost destroyed, needless to say my father was quick to switch to cavendish.

Bonita has many farms in Ecuador & Argentina.

mskitty38583

i was waiting for you to hear that just so i could ask you what you thought. and what you said is exactly what i thought youd say. its ok gabe take a breath. maybe someone got there scientific information dis-com-bob-u-lated. i still want cavvandish anyway it dont make no never mind what they say. scientist 600 yrs ago thought the world was flat...panama isnt an epidemic fungi as bad as he was saying is it? does anyone know what causes the panama? ive tried to look it up but it keeps saying its a fungus...duh. can you describe it in simple word for us newbies? please. how was the diease started?(bad dirt, animals,unsanitary conditions...etc) is it only for the banana population or does it affect other tropical fruits as well? what about milky spores would that have any affect on panama?

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Gabe15

Im writing him an email, will keep you all updated on a response.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

inkcube

Black Sigatoka is a leaf spot disease of the banana that can cut fruit production in half. the fungus causes dark leaf spots that eventually enlarge and coalesce, causing much of the leaf area to turn yellow and brown. The high rainfall and humidity of tropical regions are especially favorable for disease development. the fungus that causes black Sigatoka, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, is spread from tree to tree by wind, rain, and irrigation water. the name black Sigatoka was given to the disease because it was first discovered in 1963 in the Sigatoka Valley of Fiji.

Black Sigatoka is a very difficult and expensive disease to control. it has been estimated that 15-20% of the price of bananas is due to the cost of the control measures that are used to produce the fruit. planes & helicopters are used to apply fungicides to leaves. cultural practices such as removing diseased leaves, pruning branches, & keep removing dead leaves to improve air circulation are also helpful in reducing the occurrence of the disease, but these practices are labor intensive.

since fungicides are used so frequently, growers find that the fungus is starting to become resistant to the fungicides applied to the crop. also, many of the farmers that operate small plantations cannot afford to purchase many of these fungicides. obviously a convenient and low-cost way to control the disease would be to grow banana varieties that are resistant to the disease, but the most popular banana cultivars grown are extremely susceptible to black Sigatoka, and breeding programs cannot address this due to the sterility of the Cavendish cultivars. some new banana hybrids being developed show resistance to this disease.

JoeReal

Gran Nain is a Cavendish.

GRAPES is the number one fruit crop consumed in the whole world! The problem is, the wine bottles never look anything like grapes, so people don't know.

Bananas are the 4th largest fruit crop consumed.

Here's what I have in my notes about bananas:

• The largest non-woody plant in the world
• Not a tree but a large herb with succulent juicy stem or trunk (technically called pseudostem)
• Fruit is a type of berry
• 4th largest fruit crop in the world. 28 millions tons/year, 65% Latin Americas, 27% SE Asia, 7% Africa
• Staple food of 400 million people
• Origin: Indo Malaysian region to Northern Australia
• Spread by aborigines during prehistoric times. All types found in the Pacific islands, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin Americas can be traced back to eastern Indonesia.
• Carried to Europe in 10th century AD, spread further by Portuguese from West Africa and to South America.

the flying dutchman

Found this one a while ago about spreading, don't know if the time stamps
are correct.




Ron

inkcube

some info on Gros Michel & fusarium (Panama disease), a soilborne fungus:

before 1960, the exported bananas were almost entirely the fusraium susceptible cultivar Gros Michel. the reliance on Gros Michel & the common practice of using infected rhizomes to start new plantations resulted in widespread and severe losses. in the Ulua Valley of Honduras alone, 30,000 hectares (82200 acres) were lost between 1940 and 1960. damage occurred more rapidly in areas such as Suriname, where an entire operation of 4,000 hectares (10960 acres) was out of production within 8 years, and the Quepos area in Costa Rica, where it took 12 years for 6,000 hectares (16440 acres) to be destroyed. because it cost between $2,000 and $5,000 to establish a hectare of plantation at the time, direct losses during the Gros Michel era reached many millions of dollars.

by the mid-1900s, farmers were forced to convert to resistant cultivars in the Cavendish subgroup, specifically the Grand Nain. these cultivars continue to perform well in the western tropics. however, in several areas in the Eastern Hemisphere the Grand Nain & other Cavendish cultivars are now being damaged by Panama disease. the losses are significant and signal a serious threat to production in the Western Hemisphere because there is currently no acceptable replacement for the Grand Nain & other Cavendish cultivars. also, because the variant of the pathogen that is responsible for these outbreaks also affects plantain, this important staple food is threatened as well.

both Panama disease & Black Sigatoka are serious threats to the current Cavendish cultivars.

i think Koeppel's comment about extinction is misleading, i know of no other researcher that believes the Cavendish will disappear, just like Gros Michel did not disapper but instead will be extinct in terms of being taken out of plantation production and replaced by a new cultivar.

inkcube

i should add this about Panama disease:

four races of the Panama disease fungus (F. oxysporum f. sp. cubense) have been described - only 3 affect banana, race 3 is a pathogen of heliconia.

-race 1 is what caused the epidemics on Gros Michel, it also affects the cultivars ‘Maqueño,’ ‘Silk,’ ‘Pome,’ ‘Pisang Awak,’ and the hybrid ‘I.C.2.’ but not Cavendish bananas.

-race 2 affects cooking bananas, such as ‘Bluggoe,’ 'Blue Java', and some tetraploids produced through breeding.

-race 4 is considered most destructive since it infects race 1 and race 2 susceptible clones as well as the Cavendish cultivars, basically it care infect nearly all varieties of bananas.

the flying dutchman

Now, maybe off topic, but could you answer 1 question for me?
On many tropical plants boards i see people stating that the Canna Virus
affects bananas.
I think there is no proof for that but if you know anything about it
that would be nice.

Thanks

Ron

momoese

Gabe, maybe you could leave a message for Evan Kleinman (the host of the show) while your at it? I don't like the idea that my local foodies that heard the "Good Food" show this morning are now misinformed about Bananas. You can reach her here:

http://www.kcrw.com/about/generic_co...d=kleiman_evan

mskitty38583

inkcube!!!we missed you during your vacation!!!thank you for breaking it down for us. that actually made sense to me. one question...on a lot of the fungi here in the u.s. you can use milky sporse to combat fungus in the garden setting. is it plausabe that it could work for the panama? i know that it is safer to use that in a garden for fungus, it is a chemical free way to combat fungus. just courious to what you think about it being used to combat the panama.....

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inkcube

Ron, i have never seen a case of Canna virus infection in Musa seen a lot of banana streak virus. both are a badnavirus. there is also a close relative to the Canna virus, bean yellow mosaic virus which can infect cannas, gladiolus, freesia and many legumes. A third virus, tomato aspermy virus, also affects cannas and many other plants.

inkcube

sorry mskitty, i forgot to answer your question.

very few effective options exist for managing Panama disease. chemical measures are often of limited use, methyl bromide for example significantly reduces disease incidence, but is effective for only 3 years due to recolonization of the fumigated areas by the disease - plus it has now been removed from use in the US and falling out of favor elsewhere in the world.

studies on the biological and cultural control of this disease have begun only recently, the last 7 - 10 years. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have been shown to reduce disease severity in short-term greenhouse studies, but results from long-term field studies have not been reported. soil amendments, endophytic fungi and rhizosphere bacteria are currently being examined in Australia and South Africa, but i haven't seen any favorable results yet. achieving success with these or other approaches is a huge task due to the high susceptibility of the cultivars for which protection is desired and the perennial nature of the pathosystem - recolonization by the fungus is a big problem in control.

susceptible clones can be grown if pathogen-free propagation material is used in noninfested soil. tissue-cultured plantlets are free of bacterial, fungal and nematode pathogens and are being used to establish new plantings whenever possible - my family's plantation is all TC plants and so far our soil is not infested. once the fungus starts to colonize a plantation it only takes a few years to wipe the farm out.

genetic resistance is what offers the greatest opportunity for managing Panama disease in infested soils. so far pre-existing cultivars have been identified that will perform well in different regions and against different populations of the pathogen. resistant hybrids (non-Cavendish) have also been produced in the breeding programs, but these generally lack the flavor or post-harvest attributes that are found in currently farmed cultivars - many don't taste like the "traditional banana". i still remember my father & uncles talking about the resistance of the markets when the switch was made from Gros Michel to Cavendish. eventually resistant hybrids will surely be produced.

inkcube

i guess i should have said this earlier; i read the book before xmas - you have to read it because you cannot base anything off of this interview, i was really surprised at some of the comments. the book is 280 pages you cannot condense that into 5 - 10 minute interview. that is why i said what i did about his extinct comment.

harveyc

Thanks, Mitchel, I went to the Bison site before even checking out the bananas! I'll have to see if I can stop by there the next time I head down that way!

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