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Relative susceptibility of
banana cultivars to Xanthomonas campestris pv.
musacearum
L. Tripathi* and J. N.
Tripathi
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, P. O.
Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda.
*Corresponding author.
E-mail:
l.tripathi@cgiar.org.
Tel:
256-414-285060.
Fax:
256-414-285079;
Accepted
13 August, 2009 |
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The banana
Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is the most devastating disease of
banana in Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa. The
pathogen kills plants quickly and spreads rapidly over a
large area in a short time making the disease one of the
most dreaded in banana. The disease affects almost all
varieties of commonly grown banana cultivars. Some knowledge
of the relative susceptibility of banana cultivars would be
extremely useful and could be a basis for management
strategies for BXW. Ten banana cultivars were evaluated for
their relative susceptibility to Xanthomonas campestris
pv. musacearum. All the ten cultivars were tested by
injecting bacterial inoculum in pseudostem of in vitro
plantlets as well as potted plants. The various banana
cultivars showed significant differences in susceptibility
to Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. The
beer banana cultivar ‘Pisang Awak’ and dessert cultivars
‘Dwarf Cavendish’, ‘Giant Cavendish’, and ‘FHIA-17’ were
found to be highly susceptible, where as East African
Highland banana cultivar ‘Nakitembe’ was found to be least
susceptible. The other cultivars ‘Mpologoma’, ‘Mbwazirume’,
‘Sukali Ndiizi’ and ‘FHIA-25’, were found to be susceptible.
Diploid parent ‘Musa balbisiana’ was found to be
resistant. This study clearly highlights the need for
development of new resistant cultivars for BXW disease
control, as all the commercial cultivars are susceptible.
Key
words:
Banana Xanthomonas wilt, artificial inoculation,
Pisang Awak, Nakitembe, Cavendish. |
