Speedy new test for resistant bananas

[dArKeR]

By Claudia Orellana

Cuban researchers have developed a quick and easy method for assessing the susceptibility of banana plants to a serious fungal infection known as Panama disease. Their findings could make it easier to select resistant strains of banana for wide-scale planting.

In recent years, Panama disease has had a major impact on banana yields in Africa, Asia and Australia, and is expected to spread to Latin America and the Caribbean. The issue has been at a centre of a controversy over whether the disease could eventually lead to the extinction of bananas.

The fungus that causes the disease, known as Fusarium oxysporum, establishes itself in the soil and is virtually impossible to control with chemicals.

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