Screening banana cultivars for resistance to bacterial ... - Musalit

A.C. Hayward is a consultant
on bacterial plant diseases,
32 Clarence Road,
Indooroopilly 4068,
Queensland, Australia.
Bacterial wilt
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10
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Screening banana cultivars for resistance to bacterial
xanthomonas wilt
G. Welde Michael, K. Bobosha, G. Blomme, T. Addis, S. Mekonnen and T. Mengesha
(Xcm) (Yirgou and Bradbury 1968, 1974).
Since enset plants are harvested before
flowering, insect vector transmission from
flower to flower is not an issue. Insect vector
transmission is rarely observed on bananas
InfoMusa - Vol. 15 No. 1-2, June-December 2006

grown above 1700 masl, but it occurs at
lower elevations.
The commonly grown banana cultivars
are: ‘Pisang awak’ (ABB), several
‘Cavendish’ cultivars (AAA), ‘Uganda red’
(AAA) and East African highland bananas
(AAA-EAHB). It was observed that all these
banana cultivars can develop the disease,
bacterial xanthomonas wilt (BXW), after
being infected by contaminated tools.
Finding resistant banana cultivars would be
a long-term and cost-effective solution. The
objective of this study was to assess local
and exotic banana cultivars for resistance to
enset bacterial wilt under artificial inoculation
conditions.
Materials and methods
Forty banana cultivars (Table 1) obtained
from the Melkasa Agricultural Research
Center, Melkasa, Ethiopia were screened
for resistance to BXW one year after planting
in an experimental field at the Awassa
Agricultural Research Center, Awassa,
Ethiopia.
Five sword suckers of each cultivar
were field-established and plant spacing
was 2.5 m between plants in a row and
3 m between the rows. The 5 plants of a
specific genotype were planted in a single
row. One year after planting, 4 motherplants
per cultivar were inoculated with 3 ml of a
virulent Xcm isolate suspension whose cell
concentration was adjusted to 1x10 8 cfu/ml.
The Xcm isolate was collected from Hagere
Selam, southern Ethiopia (Quimio 1994).
The motherplants were inoculated at the
base of the petioles of the first two expanded
leaves using a 10 ml hypodermic syringe
with needle. The single control plant in each
row was inoculated with the same volume of
sterile distilled water. Data were collected on
motherplants 7, 15, 21, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90
and 120 days after inoculation.
Results and discussion
All the inoculated banana cultivars developed
disease symptoms within 45 to 120 days
(and 94% within 75 days) of inoculation,
except for one plant of the cultivar
‘Kamaramasenge’ (Table 1). Some of the
un-inoculated control plants also developed
typical bacterial wilt symptoms, presumably
due to the natural spread of the disease.
Although the inoculation method used was
artificial and could mask differences in
susceptibility, particularly to infection via
inflorescences, the trial showed that none of
the banana cultivars was immune to infection
by Xcm.
References
Addis T., F. Handoro & G. Blomme. 2004. Bacterial wilt
(Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum) on Enset
and banana in Ethiopia. INFOMUSA 13(2):44-45.
Quimio A.J. 1994. Final technical report of the World Bank
(IDA)-funded enset pathology project. September 15,
1993 to July 15 1994. 135pp.
Yirgou D. & J.F. Bradbury. 1968. Bacterial wilt of enset
incited by Xanthomonas musacearum. Phytopathology
58:111-112.
Yirgou D. & J.F. Bradbury. 1974. A note on wilt of
banana caused by enset wilt organism, Xanthomonas
musacearum. E. Afr. Agric.For. J. 40:11-14.
Table 1. Percentage of plants of 40 local and exotic banana genotypes developing bacterial
xanthomonas wilt after being inoculated with the bacterium (n=4)
Cultivar name Genomic ITC Days after inoculation
group number 45 60 75 90 120
Muracho AAB ITC0036 25 75 75* 100 100
Americani AAA ITC0557 25 100 100 100* 100
Lacatan AAA ITC0768 50 75 100 100* 100
Pisang sri AAA ITC0414 25 100* 100 100 100
Poyo AAA ITC0003 50 100 100 100 100
Grande naine AAA ITC0180 25 75 75 100 100
Robusta AAA ITC0003 25 50 100 100 100
Gaint Cavendish AAA ITC0346 50 50 100 100* 100
Champa nasik AAAA ITC0043 50 100* 100 100 100
Cardaba ABB ITC0394 25 50 100 100 100
Pisang raja AAB ITC0587 25 50* 100 100 100
Ducasse hybrid (Pisang awak) ABB ITC0053 50 75 75* 100 100
Green red AAA ITC0485 25 75 100 100* 100
Cachaco ABB ITC0643 25 50 75* 75 100
Kamaramasenge (Sukari ndizi) AAB ITC0127 25 50 50* 75 75
Dwarf Cavendish AAA ITC0002 50 50 75* 100 100
Bodles altafort AAAA ITC0366 50 75 100 100* 100
Williams-1 AAA ITC0365 50 100 100 100* 100
Williams-2 AAA ITC0365 50 50 100 100 100
InfoMusa - Vol. 15 No. 1-2, June-December 2006 11
G. Welde Michael, T. Addis,
S. Mekonnen and
T. Mengesha work at the
Southern Agricultural Research
Institute (SARI), Awassa
Research Center, P.O. Box 06,
Awassa, Ethiopia,
temesgen_addis@yahoo.com,
K. Bobosha at the Armauer
Hansen Research Institute,
P.O. Box. 1005, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, obosha@yahoo.com,
and G. Blomme at the INIBAP
Regional Office for Eastern
and Southern Africa, P.O. Box
24384, Kampala, Uganda,
g.blomme@cgiar.org.

Endophytic fungi
Table 1 (cont.). Percentage of plants of 40 local and exotic banana genotypes developing bacterial
xanthomonas wilt after being inoculated with the bacterium (n=4) (cont.)
Cultivar name Genomic ITC Days after inoculation
group number 45 60 75 90 120
Valery AAA ITC0048 50 75 100* 100 100
Prata AAB ITC0207 50 50 75 100 100
Chibulangombe AAA ITC0138 50 50 100* 100 100
Kibungo I AAA ITC0172 25 50 100* 100 100
Figue Sucree AA ITC0107 50 75 100* 100 100
Saba ABB ITC1138 25 75 100 100* 100
Silk AAB ITC0348 50 75 100 100 100
Red AAA ITC0486 50 100 100 100 100*
Gitty AAA - 50 100 100* 100 100
Uganda red AAA - 50 75 100 100 100
Butuza AAA - 50 50* 75 100 100
Nijuru AAA - 25 75 100 100* 100
Ikamaga AAA - 25 75 100 100 100
Matooke AAA-EAHB - 50 100 100 100 100
Kenya-1 AAA - 50 100 100* 100 100
Wondogenet-1 AAA - 25 75 100 100 100
Wondogenet-2 AAA - 50 50 100 100* 100
Wondogenet-3 AAA - 25 50* 100 100 100
Wondogenet-4 AAA - 50 75 100 100* 100
Ginir-1 AAA - 50 100 100 100 100
Ginir-2 AAA - 50 100 100* 100 100
*Un-inoculated/control plants that showed wilt symptoms
Effect of combined inoculations of endophytic fungi
on the biocontrol of Radopholus similis
A. zum Felde, L.E. Pocasangre, C.A. Carñizares Monteros, R.A. Sikora, F.E. Rosales and
A.S. Riveros
Of the various plant-parasitic nematodes
affecting bananas and plantain
worldwide, Radopholus similis is
recognised as the most important (Gowen
et al. 2005). Damage caused by R. similis
begins with tunnels of necrotic tissue in
roots and corms, which affect water and
nutrient uptake thereby lengthening the
growing period. Eventually, roots rot due to
secondary infection of damaged tissue by
bacteria and fungi, leading to the toppling of
banana plants as a result of root destruction
and loss of anchorage (Gowen et al. 2005,
Sarah et al. 1996). R. similis migrates
from necrotic root tissue to adjoining fresh
tissue and through the soil to gain access
to non-infested tissue from the same
plant or another plant (Sarah et al. 1996).
Substantial yield gains of between 20% and
75% have been demonstrated following the
application nematicides to control R. similis
and nematodes in general (Broadley 1979,
12
McSorley and Parrado 1986, Sarah 1989,
Gowen 1994).
In commercial banana plantations of Latin
America, nematode control basically relies
on the use of granular organophosphate
and carbamate nematicides (Marín 2005).
Cultural practices, such as the use of
organic amendments, crop rotations, fallows
and clean planting material are also used,
but with varying success. Some biocontrol
products, which contain bacteria, such as
Blue Circle (Burkholderia cepacia), a
fungus, such as Paecil (Paecilomyces
lilacinus), or the killed fermentation products
of a fungus, such as DiTera (Myrothecium
verrucaria), are available for nematode
management (APS Biological Control
Committee 2005), but banana producers do
not generally use them because of a lack of
adequate control.
To improve the activity and thereby
increase the options for the biological
management of R. similis in banana, novel
InfoMusa - Vol. 15 No. 1-2, June-December 2006