BANANA experts are heading to Africa to share their expertise and hone their skills to better protect our local banana industry from Panama disease.
Panama TR4 Program leader Rebecca Sapuppo will facilitate an information session on the management of Panama disease at the Australia-Africa Plant Biosecurity Partnership workshop in Arusha, Tanzania.
“This is an opportunity to showcase the work being undertaken by our Panama TR4 Program and to help build the capacity of professionals working in African plant biosecurity agencies,” Ms Sapuppo said.
Ms Sapuppo will be discussing farm biosecurity protocols, community engagement and awareness campaigns, operating procedures for farm workers and farm managers, and laboratory diagnostics in the identification of Panama disease tropical race 4.
“Currently, Panama disease tropical race 4 has been successfully contained to one property in the Tully area,” Ms Sapuppo said.
“However, in the absence of host plants, the pathogen can lay dormant in the soil for almost 40 years, so it is very difficult to establish how it got here or how many other sites may have been affected.
“These are some of the enormous challenges we face when working with Panama disease tropical race 4. I look forward to sharing our experiences and what we have learned during this process with others who may face the same challenges.”
Panama TR4 Program senior plant pathologist Wayne O’Neill will be attending a Fusarium laboratory workshop being held at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Fusarium is the collective name for the large group of fungi which includes the Panama disease pathogen.
Mr O’Neill is a member of the program’s diagnostics team, a small multidisciplinary group dedicated to the identification of Panama disease in banana plants.
“The workshop is hands on with a lot of time spent in the laboratory conducting a variety of Fusarium identification techniques. There will also be a suite of lectures discussing topics such as species concepts, phylogenetics, population genetics and genomics,” Mr O’Neill said.
The workshop is being presented by internationally recognised Fusarium and Panama disease researchers. It is considered the preeminent Fusarium identification workshop in the world. Following the Fusarium workshop, Mr O’Neill will visit the laboratory of Dr Altus Viljoen at Stellenbosch University. Dr Viljoen is a world leader in Panama disease research who visited Queensland last year to provide advice on our disease incursion.
On his return to Australia, Mr O’Neill will be conducting Fusarium identification training with the diagnostic team to further strengthen the skills of the Panama TR4 Program.
The Australia-Africa Plant Biosecurity Partnership is led by Australia’s Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre and is funded by the Australian International Food Security Research Centre within the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
The Fusarium Laboratory Workshop will be hosted by the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), an institute globally recognised for research in mycology and plant pathology. The workshop is being organised by Professor John F Leslie from Kansas State University.
Panama disease tropical race 4 is a soil-borne fungus that affects Lady Finger, Ducasse and Cavendish banana plant varieties, amongst others. The fungus blocks the vascular system, cutting off the supply of water and nutrients. This causes the plant to wilt and die. The disease is not eradicable and fungal spores are spread through soil, water and infected plant material.
To report Panama disease contact Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23.
