Instant Insights: Understanding and Tackling Fusarium Wilt of Banana

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on understanding and tackling Fusarium wilt in global banana production.

The first chapter examines the way in which monoculture has affected the banana industry and discusses the available banana varieties, the advent of the Cavendish variety and the need to develop new banana varieties.

The second chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the history, epidemiology and management of F. oxysporum forma specialis cubense Race 1 and 2 – the fungus which causes Fusarium wilt of banana.

The third chapter documents the spread of Tropical Race 4 throughout the major Cavendish banana-producing regions of the world and highlights the importance of breeding for resistance to diversify the banana crop for the export trade.

The fourth chapter reviews the potential of particular breeding technologies, such as genetic engineering and induced mutagenesis, to improve the performance of Cavendish cultivars and overcome current biological and environmental challenges.

The final chapter considers the challenges associated with developing hybrid banana varieties with improved properties and uses insights from Embrapa’s banana breeding programme in Brazil to highlight these challenges and how they could possibly be mitigated.

Dr André Drenth is Professor in Tropical Plant Pathology and Program Leader for crop protection in the Centre for Horticultural Science at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), at the University of Queensland. He leads several projects on tropical plant diseases and he initiated and led a national Banana Plant Protection Programme set up to protect Australia’s banana industry from the impact of a range of pests and diseases.

Dr Gert H. J. Kema is Professor of Phytopathology and chair at the Laboratory for Phytopathology of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. He initiated and coordinated several international banana research programs focusing on Fusarium wilt of banana and black Sigatoka as well as interdisciplinary research projects and public-private-partnerships on other perennial crops. He is a cofounder of several spin-off companies focusing on banana improvement, disease management and bioprocessing.