Panama disease
| Panama disease | |
|---|---|
| Common names | Panama disease of banana vascular wilt of banana |
| Causal agents | Fusarium oxysporum |
| Hosts | banana |
| EPPO code | FUSACB |
| Distribution | Panama |
Panama disease is a plant disease of the roots of banana plants. It is a type of Fusarium wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. The pathogen is resistant to fungicide and cannot be controlled chemically.
During the 1950s, Panama disease wiped out most commercial Gros Michel banana production. The Gros Michel banana was the dominant cultivar of bananas, and the blight inflicted enormous costs and forced producers to switch to other, disease-resistant cultivars. New strains of Panama disease currently threaten the production of today's most popular cultivar, Cavendish.
The disease is caused by the Fusarium oxysporum fungus. The fungus enters the plant’s roots and spreads through the plant's xylem vessels. The disease causes significant damage. The fungus disrupts the plant's vascular system, which causes the leaves to turn yellow and wilt, and the plant eventually dies from dehydration.
Modern banana plants are reproduced asexually, through replanting the plant's basal shoot that grows after the original plant has been cut down. The fruit contains no seeds, nor does the male flower produce pollen suitable for pollination, prohibiting sexual reproduction. This causes all bananas of a single breed to be nearly genetically identical. The fungus is able to spread easily from plant to plant as the individual plants' defenses are near identical.
The fungus is transmitted through soil and water, and can be spread by people, by dirt on shoes, tires on trucks, shipping containers or other infected equipment, rain, floods and run-off water. It can live dormant in soil for about 30 years.
The disease is not a threat to humans.
Gros Michel was the only type of banana eaten in the United States from the late 19th century until after World War II. From the beginning, however, a serious disease was present in the banana plantations of Central America. The problem was first diagnosed in Panama after which it was named. Over several decades, the fungus spread from Panama to neighboring countries, moving north through Costa Rica to Guatemala and south into Colombia and Ecuador.
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