Panama Disease TR4 - Page 2

PR-Giants · 12-17-2013, 01:25 PM

Results from these and other trials indicate that the FHIA clones are generally very vigorous and produce high yields under a wide range of environmental and edaphic conditions. Importantly, they resist pathogenically and geographically diverse populations of M. fijiensis, as well as two other major problems, Panama disease, (fusarium wilt) and nematodes. Unfortunately, since they do not yet meet the high standards of the export trades, they have only been adopted for local consumption in East Africa, tropical America and the Caribbean.

In the future, products of the breeding programs will play increasingly important roles in subsistence agriculture. Whether new hybrids are used eventually to replace the Cavendish cultivars that are used by the export trades, however, remains to be seen. The very substantial infrastructure that characterizes export production is focused on producing only these cultivars. Converting these operations to the production and handling of another type of banana would be an expensive proposition. Moreover, the currently available hybrids do not meet the very high standards for fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life that are demanded by the trades. Yet, as fungicides continue to lose their effectiveness against black Sigatoka, and as the practice of fungicidal disease control becomes more expensive and less appealing to consumers in the importing countries, the trades may eventually be forced into making the difficult transition away from the Cavendish clones.

shannondicorse · 12-17-2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

....In the future, products of the breeding programs will play increasingly important roles in subsistence agriculture. Whether new hybrids are used eventually to replace the Cavendish cultivars that are used by the export trades, however, remains to be seen. The very substantial infrastructure that characterizes export production is focused on producing only these cultivars. Converting these operations to the production and handling of another type of banana would be an expensive proposition. Moreover, the currently available hybrids do not meet the very high standards for fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life that are demanded by the trades. Yet, as fungicides continue to lose their effectiveness against black Sigatoka, and as the practice of fungicidal disease control becomes more expensive and less appealing to consumers in the importing countries, the trades may eventually be forced into making the difficult transition away from the Cavendish clones.

PR,

I agree with you. The agroecology of banana cultivation has been permanently changed - and there is no going "back". Artificially bred varieties are now indispensable. I do think however that the rate of new hybrid production has to be increased by a multiple of 100!

The breeding methods being used are just too inflexible to meet the need. Even the more adventurous breeders are still bogged down in antiquated breeding paradigms.

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

Nicolas Naranja · 12-17-2013, 09:13 PM

Shelf life is a big issue. Cavendish bananas have a very long green life. Also, the strength of the pedicel is a major issue. Goldfinger is particularly bad for breaking at the pedicel. I am not really sure what the issue is with FHIA-17. Dwarf Namwah is a decent cultivar in terms of yield and pedicel strength but the green life is short. I would love to have some unbiased information from Cuba where they grow thousands of hectares of FHIA varieties. Jamaica is also experimenting with FHIA-17 on a commercial level, so perhaps some numbers will be released.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Results from these and other trials indicate that the FHIA clones are generally very vigorous and produce high yields under a wide range of environmental and edaphic conditions. Importantly, they resist pathogenically and geographically diverse populations of M. fijiensis, as well as two other major problems, Panama disease, (fusarium wilt) and nematodes. Unfortunately, since they do not yet meet the high standards of the export trades, they have only been adopted for local consumption in East Africa, tropical America and the Caribbean.

In the future, products of the breeding programs will play increasingly important roles in subsistence agriculture. Whether new hybrids are used eventually to replace the Cavendish cultivars that are used by the export trades, however, remains to be seen. The very substantial infrastructure that characterizes export production is focused on producing only these cultivars. Converting these operations to the production and handling of another type of banana would be an expensive proposition. Moreover, the currently available hybrids do not meet the very high standards for fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life that are demanded by the trades. Yet, as fungicides continue to lose their effectiveness against black Sigatoka, and as the practice of fungicidal disease control becomes more expensive and less appealing to consumers in the importing countries, the trades may eventually be forced into making the difficult transition away from the Cavendish clones.

PR-Giants · 12-17-2013, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja

Shelf life is a big issue. Cavendish bananas have a very long green life. Also, the strength of the pedicel is a major issue. Goldfinger is particularly bad for breaking at the pedicel. I am not really sure what the issue is with FHIA-17. Dwarf Namwah is a decent cultivar in terms of yield and pedicel strength but the green life is short. I would love to have some unbiased information from Cuba where they grow thousands of hectares of FHIA varieties. Jamaica is also experimenting with FHIA-17 on a commercial level, so perhaps some numbers will be released.

Fruit Growth

The Banana Board - Jamaica

shannondicorse · 12-18-2013, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja

Shelf life is a big issue. Cavendish bananas have a very long green life. Also, the strength of the pedicel is a major issue. Goldfinger is particularly bad for breaking at the pedicel. I am not really sure what the issue is with FHIA-17. Dwarf Namwah is a decent cultivar in terms of yield and pedicel strength but the green life is short. I would love to have some unbiased information from Cuba where they grow thousands of hectares of FHIA varieties. Jamaica is also experimenting with FHIA-17 on a commercial level, so perhaps some numbers will be released.

Hi,

some remarks:

1) In breeding for long greenlife in tetraploids of "Gros Michel" extract, the long greenlife of the pollen donor diploid is critically important.

2) Finger drop tendency seems also inherited from the diploid pollen donor. This is part of some of the wild acuminata subspecies' dispersal adaptation.

3) In the quest to find small populations of "sneaked in" bananas on Trinidad, I might possibly have found some FHIA-17. I'm propagating the material to examine.

My only complaint is a tendency of the pseudostem to snap in the wind, when the plant is loaded. I haven't evaluated for Black Sigatoka resistance; as I was growing it on experimental ground that has been made Black Sigatoa "unfriendly" by the experimental introduction and fostering of allelopathic soil- & phyllosphere-microbiota.

see the abstract below on FHIA-17 performance in Tanzania...

...if we have several phenotypically closely similar - but genetically widely varying - bananas clones of this type planted in polyclonal culture; I venture that a lot of disease would be eliminated.

Try to explain this to a classically trained banana agronomist!

sincerely,

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

T.J. Msogoya , A.P. Maerere , P.M. Kusolwa and L.T. Nsemwa , 2006. Field Performance of Improved Banana Cv. Fhia 17 and Fhia 23 in the Eastern Zone of Tanzania. Journal of Agronomy, 5: 533-535.

"Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the performance of new improved banana cv. FHIA 17 and FHIA 23 (Musa AAAA hybrids) in the Eastern zone of Tanzania compared to popular local cooking banana cv. Bukoba, Uganda, Embwailuma, Malindi and Mshale and dessert banana cv. Kisukari, Mtwike and Jamaica. Results showed that cv. FHIA 23 and FHIA 17 were more (p<0.05) resistant to black sigatoka disease with infection index (II) of 16.0 and 18.7% compared to local banana cv. Jamaica, Uganda, Bukoba, Mshale, Mtwike, Embwailuma and Malindi with II of 23.3, 23.5, 24.4, 24.5, 27.1, 30.5 and 39.7%, respectively. Moreover, cv. FHIA 17 and FHIA 23 were earlier (p<0.05) maturing with bunches harvested at 360 and 375 days from the date of planting compared to cv. Jamaica, Malindi and Bukoba harvested at 405, 407 and 411 days, respectively. Conversely, the improved cultivars were later maturing than cv. Embwailuma, Uganda and Mshale harvested at 330, 334 and 345 days, respectively. Cultivars FHIA 17 produced bigger (p<0.05) bunch weighing 36.5 kg than all local cultivars while cv. FHIA 23 produced higher bunch yield of 25.0 kg than cv. Kisukari, Uganda, Embwailuma, Mshale and Jamaica with bunch weights of 13.7, 15.6, 16.1, 16.6 and 16.8 kg, respectively. On the contrary, cv. FHIA 23 produced as big (p<0.05) bunch as cv. Malindi with bunch weighing 22.9 kg, but smaller than that of cv. Mtwike of 31.3 kg. The dissemination of these cultivars to farmers in the Eastern zone of the country is highly recommended though further studies are required to determine their suitability for dessert and matoke consumption as perceived by consumers in this zone and urban markets."

PR-Giants · 02-07-2014, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe15

Gros Michel plants that survived the first attack of panama disease either were not in affected plantations and thus did not get the disease or may have shown some degree of resistance. However, they are not concerned about that same disease anymore, panama disease race 4 (different from the one that destroyed the farms in the past) will kill Gros Michel and Cavendish plants.

There is some research that happens in the US, however, even though we consume the most bananas, we really are not in the best situation to be researching them. We hardly produce any and we simply don't have enough land in the tropics to be doing it on the scale of the large banana research centers (which are also concerned and actively working on the issue).

As far as resistant varieties go, there are plenty that have been developed, and many more landraces that are naturally resistant to panama disease race 4. The problem is that none are similar enough to Cavendish, either in flavor and texture, culture and management, or shipping and handling ability to take the place of Cavendish.

In Taiwan, where the entire banana industry is based around TC plants, they are continually micropropagating new plants. I think they only harvest fruit from a plant twice, and then replant. This ensures that any pathogen present doesn't even have a chance of getting established. Since they produce millions and millions of plants annually, they get a lot of "off types" and in the early 90's already found stable mutations of commercial quality Cavendish which are resistant to panama disease race 4. If panama disease race 4 makes in to latin america, my guess is that many growers would try planting a resistant Cavendish before switching varieties altogether.

There are a lot of stories out there about how the banana is "going extinct" and will not be available in 5-10 years....its all very misunderstood and there are solutions out there. Worst case scenario (for the industry), is they would have to switch to something like Goldfinger, which although very different from Cavendish in flavor and texture, is resistant to panama disease race 4. I can't imagine that a banana grower would rather go out of business then try growing a different variety.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja

Panama Disease TR4 is on the move...we can all tell our grandkids how much better Cavendish bananas were than whatever replaces it.

New banana disease spreading throughout Africa

Shocked by the outbreak of a new strain of banana disease in Africa, farmers in Nigeria and regulators of the agricultural sector are bracing up to prevent and combat the possible attack of the nation’s plantain-banana producers by the scourge.

The destructive strain of banana wilt disease, which was discovered on Cavendish bananas in Mozambique, has begun to spread to other African nations. The disease, widely known as Foc TR4, is a form of Fusarium wilt or Panama disease, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4. This fungus has devastated banana plantations in Asia over the past two decades.

The African outbreak was discovered on a commercial farm in northern Mozambique earlier in 2013 with support from UEM (Universidade Eduardo Mondlane), and the responsible fungus subsequently identified at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. The Ministry of Agriculture in Mozambique has announced this outbreak via the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) portal.

Mozambique government officials have visited the farm, and have introduced in-country measures to contain and prevent spread to other parts of the country. A stakeholder consultation meeting to explain the outbreak was held in Maputo in November 2013, and will be followed by similar meetings in neighbouring countries to raise awareness, heighten surveillance and put in place an emergency response plan.

A consortium of partners, including the Mozambique Department of Agriculture, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Stellenbosch University, Bioversity International, FAO, National Agricultural Research and Regulatory Organisations and government officials throughout Africa are being mobilised to address the outbreak, monitor plantations and raise awareness in Mozambique, the region and continent.

NANAMAN · 03-20-2014, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja View Post
Panama Disease TR4 is on the move...we can all tell our grandkids how much better Cavendish bananas were than whatever replaces it.

IMHO, there are several varieties that are better eating quality than green picked, transported for weeks, then gas ripened Cavendish bananas. Or even the green picked and gassed Manzano bananas I can find in So. Fl. markets.
That's why I started growing my own bananas in the first place. My grand kids are already eating better bananas!

NANAMAN · 03-21-2014, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Someday soon your grand kids will be eating an abundance of low cost, freshly picked tropical fruit delivered daily from a few miles off your coast.

Pre 1959 was not that long ago.

Cool! Until that happens, I'll be eating an abundance of whatever I can grow!

12-17-2013, 01:25 PM	#21 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,544 BananaBucks : 3,195 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,900 Times Was Thanked 12,463 Times in 3,620 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,204 Times	Re: Panama Disease TR4 Results from these and other trials indicate that the FHIA clones are generally very vigorous and produce high yields under a wide range of environmental and edaphic conditions. Importantly, they resist pathogenically and geographically diverse populations of M. fijiensis, as well as two other major problems, Panama disease, (fusarium wilt) and nematodes. Unfortunately, since they do not yet meet the high standards of the export trades, they have only been adopted for local consumption in East Africa, tropical America and the Caribbean. In the future, products of the breeding programs will play increasingly important roles in subsistence agriculture. Whether new hybrids are used eventually to replace the Cavendish cultivars that are used by the export trades, however, remains to be seen. The very substantial infrastructure that characterizes export production is focused on producing only these cultivars. Converting these operations to the production and handling of another type of banana would be an expensive proposition. Moreover, the currently available hybrids do not meet the very high standards for fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life that are demanded by the trades. Yet, as fungicides continue to lose their effectiveness against black Sigatoka, and as the practice of fungicidal disease control becomes more expensive and less appealing to consumers in the importing countries, the trades may eventually be forced into making the difficult transition away from the Cavendish clones. __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties

03-20-2014, 04:57 PM	#27 (permalink)
NANAMAN Pseudostem Therapist NANAMAN's Photo Gallery Location: Lake Park Fl. Find me on the map! Zone: 10 Name: Brian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1,696 BananaBucks : 277,844 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 452 Times Was Thanked 1,118 Times in 320 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 16 Times	Re: Panama Disease TR4 Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja View Post Panama Disease TR4 is on the move...we can all tell our grandkids how much better Cavendish bananas were than whatever replaces it. IMHO, there are several varieties that are better eating quality than green picked, transported for weeks, then gas ripened Cavendish bananas. Or even the green picked and gassed Manzano bananas I can find in So. Fl. markets. That's why I started growing my own bananas in the first place. My grand kids are already eating better bananas! __________________

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