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BANANA SOIL DISEASE THRIVES IN WET

Department of Primary Industries researchers, based in Mareeba and South Johnstone, have identified a new soil-borne disease of banana in Far North Queensland known as banana corm rot.

Dr Steve Akiew, Mareeba-based senior plant bacteriologist from the DPI's innovation arm, the Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences, first identified the disease on samples sent in for diagnosis.

Addressing the Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference in Cairns today, DPI experimentalist Joanna Arthy said a three-year project on epidemiology and control of banana corm rot in North Queensland was underway.

Ms Arthy said the project was started after banana growers in the Wet Tropics belt recorded concern about the disease.

"A survey was conducted over the wet season of 1997 and 1998 to investigate the incidence and relative importance of banana corm rot in plantations from Mossman to Cardwell," she said.

She said initial work involving a one-year survey was concentrated in three major areas; a farm survey to assess the extent of the disease, a mail survey to 500 commercial producers from Cardwell to Cooktown and diagnosis of the disease and identification of the pathogen causing the disease.

"Results of the field survey showed that there was a seven per cent incidence of corm rot on the farms visited. A further two-thirds of growers ranked the disease as important to extremely important."

Ms Arthy said that while banana corm rot was not an exotic or quarantine disease, it is a natural inhabitant of soils of North Queensland.

"The disease is a new form of banana corm rot, not previously recorded in Queensland. The disease affects Cavendish bananas as well as other varieties."

She said researchers from the DPI's innovation arm, the Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences, are now focussed on identifying the factors that contribute to the disease and methods of control.

"We have identified both desuckering and weevil border damage along with poor drainage are the most important factors in development of the disease," Ms Arthy said.

"Our research has only really scratched the surface of this complex disease problem, and we are hopeful that further funding for on-going research will be forthcoming to confirm control measures for this disease."

DPI News, Tuesday, 25 Sept. 2001,
Further information: Joanna Arthy, Experimentalist.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF NATURAL DISEASE CONTROLS

Ground-breaking Department of Primary Industries research that aims to harness the power of a banana plant's inbuilt defences could save the North Queensland industry millions of dollars a year. Tony Pattison, from the DPI's innovation arm, the Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences, has told Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference delegates that the research is aimed at reducing nematode damage in banana crops.

Every year, banana growers are faced with a bill of up to $10 million in chemical costs and lost costs and lost production caused by nematodes and related soil diseases.

Improving a banana plant's natural defences against disease by harnessing beneficial bacteria to stimulate the plant's immune system is the focus of the research outlined by Mr Pattison at today's conference proceedings.

He said the research effort had been focussed on tissue-cultured banana plantlets. These plantlets are free from all major diseases and represent about 10 per cent of banana plantings each year in Queensland.

The theory behind the research is that banana plants produce their own 'good' and 'bad' bacteria. The 'good' bacteria help fight disease caused by nematodes (the microscopic worms that rot the roots of plants).

Increasing the amounts of this 'good' bacteria while a plant is still young makes it less susceptible to disease in the field, increasing productivity and reducing the need for chemical controls.

Mr Pattison likened the use of 'good' bacteria to the consumption of yoghurt by humans who were seeking to increase levels of acidophilus (a 'good' bacteria) in their own bodies.

"This three-year research program has been aimed at finding and isolating the beneficial bacteria to reduce soil diseases and increase the growth rate of the plants," Mr Pattison said.

The research has been funded by banana growers and Horticultural Australia using facilities at the Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture with links to specialist DPI researchers in Indooroopilly.

Mr Pattison said one form of bacteria that had been found has recorded a 10 per cent reduction in nematode disease and a 40 per cent increase in early plant growth.

The next stage of the research is commercial trials of the banana plantlets, and he urged potential industry partners to contact him at the DPI's Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture for more information about how they could become involved.

DPI news, Thursday, 27 September 2001
Further information: Tony Pattison Nematologist

QUARANTINE THREAT INFO

OUTBREAKS of banana disease and pests have the potential to devastate the multi-million dollar Queensland industry - and early detection is one of the key elements in preventing their spread.

To assist growers and those associated with the banana industry, the Department of Primary Industries has just released a series of full-colour information sheets detailing the quarantine threats.

It's a timely release of updated, illustrated information, considering the black Sigatoka eradication effort that is underway in the Tully Valley, according to DPI extension officer Zeki Murad. "We have designed the information sheets to answer the most common questions asked about the various diseases, and have made an effort to include photographs of the tell-tale signs that suggests the presence of each particular disease," Mr Murad said.

The nine-sheet series begins with black Sigatoka, which is the most serious leaf disease of banana in the world, and initial outbreaks can be mistaken for normal leaf spot (yellow Sigatoka).

Other threats included in the series are Banana Bract Mosaic Disease, Banana Bunchy Top Disease, Fruit Flies, Bacterial Wilts of Banana, Spiralling Whitefly, Panama Disease, Pest Bananas and Banana Skipper.

Each information sheet contains the same categories - "What is it?", "What do I look for?", "How does it spread?", "Where is it now?" and "Control options".

Mr Murad said information sheet number 10 - detailing the threat of Banana Freckle disease - was currently in production. He said the DPI was distributing the information sheets to growers throughout Far North Queensland.

"We've also put some effort into the presentation of the information, and we are distributing them in a plastic folder that enables them to be kept in a packing shed and used as a reference tool by all staff without them being destroyed," Mr Murad said.

The information sheets are also available from the Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture, South Johnstone.

DPI News, Friday, 21 September 2001

DATE: August 2001

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