PEST MANAGEMENT DECISION GUIDE: GREEN AND YELLOW LIST wilt on banana pv. musacearum Banana Xanthomonas Wilt Prevention Monitoring Direct Control Direct Control Restrictions

l Use healthy planting materials l Banana Xanthomonas wilt is a bacterial disease spread by l Remove l There are no recommended (suckers and corms) from wasps feeding on in infected male banana flowers and diseased plants chemicals to control Banana disease-free areas. Or, get clean then on healthy flowers. The disease is also spread through and dispose Xanthomonas wilt disease banana suckers produced under contaminated cutting tools carefully by tissue-culture from trusted sources l Check plantation for symptoms once a week in first 6 months burying or Infected banana with wilted and like Malawi Mangoes, Dep. of planting, and later once per month burning them 1m yellowed young and older Agriculture Research Services, deep and 100m leaves (Eden-Green, Simon / Lilongwe University of Agriculture l Look for wilting in flowers, yellowing of young and old leaves away from EG Consulting) and Natural Resources which soon turn brown banana l Remove the male flower l Purple leaves of (banana flower) become black and plantations using a forked stick (not knife) shrivelled before they die l Single stem after the last hand has formed to l When cut open, the banana has dark stains including removal will help reduce the risk of the banana those that are green minimise plant being diseased through the l Cut a cross section of stem and observe oozing of a creamy to infection of new male flower pale yellow fluid to confirm bacterial disease. Fungal wilt plants but this l Once the disease has been diseases do not ooze will not eliminate Oozing of creamy to yellow the disease bacterial fluid from inside the detected always disinfect tools like l Thresholds: Remove infected plants as soon as they are banana stem (Blomme, Guy / hoes, machetes, knives during noticed when up to 5-15% of the banana plantation is Bioversity International) and after use to avoid spreading diseased the to healthy plants. Sterilise tools by flaming until hot l Note: Xanthomonas wilt can be confused with a fungal or with bleach disease, Panama disease (Fusarium wilt). In infected Fusarium banana, yellowing and wilting of leaves progresses l Follow national quarantine from older to younger leaves; wilted leaves may snap at the procedures, particularly do not base and hang down the stem. In plants affected by transport out of infected Xanthomonas, wilting begins with any leaf and the infected areas leaves snap along the leaf blade Premature ripening of fruit l Once the plant is infected there is no treatment to cure it from which will rot due to bacteria infection (Lepoint, Pascale / the disease Bioversity International)

Malawi CREATED/UPDATED: May 2017 AUTHOR(S): Henry Msatilomo, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Department of Agricultural Extension Services, P.O. Box 30145, Lilongwe 3, Malawi. phone no.: +265 888 333 462 email: [email protected] EDITED BY: Plantwise

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