The prevention, detection and management

of banana Fusarium wilt TR4

Altus Viljoen

Department of Plant Pathology


Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences
The global distribution of Fusarium wilt

2015 -

2019 1990 -
2010
2010 -
2015

2015

Foc races 1 and 2

Foc STR4
Foc TR4
Is Foc TR4 a crisis or a threat?
 Damage caused by Foc TR4 globally
Australia: Northern Territory China: Guangxi province

Philippines: Mindanao Mozambique: Nampula

 Metocheria farm, Mozambique - 2018

• Scientist report (2013): “It is of utmost importance that urgent

and rigorous steps be taken to prevent the disease from
progressing if the operation wants to survive”
• General manager (2014): “We have more important things to
deal with”
• Investor (2015): “This is not rocket science”
To report or not to report …
Identification and detection of Foc TR4
Identification of Foc
Races
1 and 2

TR4

STR4
Ma et al. unpublished data

Slide: R.C. Ploetz

Detection of Foc TR4
 A TR4 biosecurity plan for Ecuador

• Pre-border activities
• On-border activities
• Post-border, off-farm activities
• Farm-border activities

National challenges for Foc TR4 biosecurity

1. The nature of spread of the disease
2. Difficulty to control the disease
3. Lack of preparedness to respond and manage the disease
4. Inadequate stakeholder commitment
5. Mobilising political support
6. Lack of funding
7. Transboundary nature of the disease
 Considerations for a biosecurity plan

• Source of planting materials (tissue culture, suckers; Foc TR4-affected vs

non-affected countries)
• Size of farms: Subsistence, small or large-scale commercial
• Movement of people and vehicles between banana farms
• Source of irrigation (shared rivers, dams, floods)
• Financial and human capacity
• Multi-national or locally owned businesses
• Sharing of equipment, labour, transport
• Geography and slopes of terrain
• Intensity of production area and diversity of crops (mono- and or mixed
cropping systems)
• National plant protection services and policies
• Awareness of government officials, scientists, growers
• Ability to deal with exotic pests and pathogens
 Resistance in banana to Fusarium wilt

 Conventional improvement
– Classical breeding (long-term)

 Unconventional improvement
– Somaclonal variation (short-term)
– Mutation breeding (short-term)
– Genetic engineering (intermediate)
– Gene editing (intermediate)
Resistance in banana to Foc
Resistance in Cavendish banana to Foc
Cavendish somaclonal variants
Soil inoculum reduction

Chlamydospores

• Better understanding
of the production,
germination and killing
of chlamydospores
• Ability to accurately
measure the fungus in
water and soil
• To distinguish between
dead and living
chlamydospores
 Conclusions

• Be aware of opportunistic and false claims, and involve

credible and independent scientists to test products.
• TR4 is not a ‘discriminating’ fungus. It thus will have an
impact on the entire Ecuadorian banana value chain.
• Work together with the regulatory authorities and scientists
in Ecuador. They are committed and well-connected with the
international scientific community.
• TR4 outbreaks are unique, and if found in Ecuador, will be
unique here too.
• Use experienced and practical field pathologists rather than
fundamental scientists to advise you.
Muchas gracias
 Pre-border activities
• Assess national biosecurity legislation and regulations
• Assess a country’s ability to prevent and respond to incursions of Foc
• Obtain sufficient knowledge on Foc and means to deal with it
• Raise awareness about Foc TR4 among policy makers, government and
quarantine officials, the public, researchers, producers and other stakeholders
• Develop standardised training manuals, identification and surveillance
protocols, and methods to deal with Foc incursions nationally and regionally
• Develop national capacity and infrastructure to deal with incursions
• Train plant health officials, scientists, extension officers, border control and
quarantine people, and producers on Foc identification and management
• Distribute posters, brochures and information materials on Foc TR4 and other
races
• Prepare technical materials on the prevention, detection, containment and
eradication of Foc-affected plants.
• Introduce an emergency fund to rapidly respond to incursions
• Develop an entrance risk analysis and identify high-risk entry points
 On-border activities

• Evaluate quarantine measures and strengthen border

control
• Include Foc TR4 as quarantine pest on national lists
• Develop legislation and phytosanitory regulation for
bananas and/or parts of bananas introduced from Foc
TR4-affected countries or countries at risk
• Strictly control the importation of banana and plantain
plants and plant parts from countries affected or at risk
of Foc TR4 through national quarantine stations
• Request in vitro plants to be accompanied by
certificates for disease indexing
• Identify and strengthen high risk entry points for
banana plants infected with Foc
• Train scientists in the use of reliable diagnostics for
Foc TR4 identification
 Post-border, off-farm activities
• Map the distribution of Foc TR4 and other Foc
races in banana-growing countries
• Gather epidemiological data to establish
means of introduction and spread
• Assess, train and introduce surveillance
systems and teams in-country
• Introduce legislation to regulate the movement
of banana planting materials and other risky
materials within country borders
• Set up quarantine zones to prevent the
movement of infected planting materials and
other possible risky materials in-country
• Collaborate nationally and regionally to prevent
the introduction of Foc TR4 in the region
• Organise training workshops and expert
consultations with Fusarium specialists
 Farm-border activities
• Obtain clean planting and propagation material from
reputable sources, preferentially tissue culture bananas
• Put up highly visible and clearly understandable signs at
farm entrances to notify visitors about farm biosecurity
• Clean all vehicles by hosing-off clay and plant parts and
disinfection before entering or leaving farm gates
• Manage visitors and vehicles entering farm borders:
• Allow visitors only by appointment and upon signing in
• Disinfect shoes and vehicles of visitors
• Use only on-farm vehicles and provide boots to visitors
• Enquire about the employment history, nationality and
movement of all farm workers
• Avoid sharing farm machinery, equipment and field tools
• Strictly control access of contractors and service
providers
 National challenges for Foc TR4

1. The nature of spread/prevention of the disease

2. Difficulty to control the disease
3. Lack of preparedness to respond and manage the disease:
• Inadequate awareness of the disease and its impact
• Policy inadequacy: Weak regulatory and legislation systems
• Lack of capacity: Human resource and infrastructure
4. Inadequate stakeholder commitment
5. Mobilising political support On-
Containment
Management
↑ Losses
↑ Activities
Farm Crop replacement
↑ Cost
6. Lack of funding Region Quarantine
↓ Production
↓ Income
Surveillance

7. Transboundary nature of the disease Affected and

Neighbour countries
Awareness
Training

8. Inadequate research, especially on resistance Continent Research

in banana varieties to Foc TR4

 Foc TR4 in China
• Fusarium wilt was first discovered in
Fanyu of Guangzhou in 1998
• The disease now occurs in all of the
main production areas
• Cost of Fusarium wilt estimated to
be more than 500 million Yuan/year
• In Guangxi, production were
reduced from 120,000 ha to 66,000
ha since 2013

40 000 Guangxi
VCGs 0123,
01221, 01213/16

20 000 Yunnan Fujian

14 000 (VCGs 0120, 01221) VCGs 0120,
01213/16

Hainan
14 VCGs 0123, 0124/22, Guangdong
01221, 01213/16 VCGs 0120, 0123, 0124/22,
01220, 01221, 01213/16

Li et al., 2013
Detection of Foc TR4 in Mozambique
Matanuska
 National contingency plan for Foc TR4

Any Cavendish banana with suspicious symptoms must be:

• Reported (grower awareness and responsibility)
• Investigated (Agrocalidad)
• Identified (Agrocalidad and ESPOL)
• An incursion should be dealt with:
• Establish a management team
• Implement an eradication plan
• Do surveillance in the area
• Contain the outbreak
• Document the outbreak
• Communicate the outbreak:
• With the affected farmer
• With the community
• Awareness raising
qPCR detection of dead vs living Foc
Product bound to DNA not amplified

Unbound DNA amplified

by PCR/qPCR

+ + NTC

DEAD ALIVE
 Mutation breeding for Foc TR4 resistance

• Bench and bioinformatics pipeline has been

developed for rapid assessment of induced mutations
• EMS mutations are stable and phenoytpes may be
revealed by knocking out a single copy
• Experiments with gamma irradiation reveal induction
of large genomic deletions

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency
Somaclonal variation in banana