Final report project Integrated management of Fusarium wilt of bananas in the Philippines and Australia project number HORT/2012/097 date published prepared by Dr Anthony Pattison Department of Agriculture and Fisheries co-authors/ Dr Cesar Limbaga, Ms Tamsi Gervacio, Dr Anastacia Notarte, Dr contributors/ Merlina Juruena, Dr Paul Dennis, Mr Stewart Lindsay, Dr Agustin collaborators Molina approved by Ms Irene Kernot final report number ISBN 978-1-922345-06-6 published by ACIAR GPO Box 1571 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia This publication is published by ACIAR ABN 34 864 955 427. Care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication. However ACIAR cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in the publication. You should make your own enquiries before making decisions concerning your interests. © Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) 2020 - This work is copyright. 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Final report: Integrated management of Fusarium wilt of bananas in the Philippines and Australia Contents 1 Acknowledgments .................................................................................... 3 2 Executive summary .................................................................................. 4 3 Background ............................................................................................... 5 4 Objectives ................................................................................................. 9 4.1 Specific objectives: .............................................................................................................. 9 5 Methodology ........................................................................................... 10 5.1 Location and sites .............................................................................................................. 10 5.2 Methods ............................................................................................................................. 11 6 Achievements against activities and outputs/milestones .................. 25 7 Key results and discussion ................................................................... 29 7.1 Objective 1: To develop options to limit losses of smallholder Cavendish production in Davao del Norte and Ladyfinger production in Australia due to FW .................................. 29 7.2 Objective 2: To evaluate the effectiveness of best-bet ICM approaches in enabling commercial banana production in the presence of FW. .................................................... 40 7.3 Objective 3: To determine the barriers to adoption of systems to suppress FW in banana production in the Philippines and Australia. .......................................................... 51 8 Impacts .................................................................................................... 62 8.1 Scientific impacts – now and in 5 years ............................................................................. 62 8.2 Capacity impacts – now and in 5 years ............................................................................. 62 8.3 Community impacts – now and in 5 years ......................................................................... 63 8.4 Communication and dissemination activities ..................................................................... 66 9 Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................... 69 9.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 69 9.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 70 10 References .............................................................................................. 72 10.1 References cited in report .................................................................................................. 72 10.2 List of publications produced by project ............................................................................. 77 11 Appendixes ............................................................................................. 78 11.1 Appendix 1: Capacity Building of Project Staff .................................................................. 78 11.2 Appendix 2: Field trial sites in the Philippines .................................................................... 81 11.3 Appendix 3 Panama R&D Field day, 12 May 2017, South Johnstone .............................. 86 11.4 Appendix 4: Newspaper and magazine articles ................................................................. 88 Page ii Final report: Integrated management of Fusarium wilt of bananas in the Philippines and Australia 1 Acknowledgments We would like to thank staff from ACIAR, particularly the program managers Les Baxter, Richard Markham, and Irene Kernot and their assistants David Hall, Joy Hardman and Karen Davies, the Philippine based ACIAR staff and contractors, Mai Alagcan, Mara Faylon, Lilian Vega and John Oakeshott; for their help, support, hard work and dedication throughout this project, as well as the safety and well-being of the travelling staff and handling local issues. We would also like to thank the Presidents of the University of Southeastern Philippines, Dr Perfecto Albin and Dr Lourdes Generalo for generously allowing their institutions, staff and students to participate in the project. We would like to acknowledge the banana growers who actively participated and helped throughout this project and provided invaluable practical insights. In particular, thanks go to Mr Patrick Leahy, Mr Stephen Lowe, Mr Leon Collins and also to Dr Rosie Godwin and Mr Jim Pekin and the staff from the Australian Banana Growers’ Council for their continued support. In the Philippines, the time and information given by the many banana farmers who participated in surveys is gratefully acknowledged. The time and resources given to us to undertake field experiments by the Puyod family and the members of the Alberto Magpuri Soriano Fresh Fruits Cooperative (AMSEFFCO) banana cooperative is also gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to acknowledge the help from Dole Philippines for allowing the experiment to continue on the AMSEFFCO site and supporting our research. The tireless and dedicated work from the support staff in the Philippines; Ms Christine Ansale, Mr Marvin Tagan and Mr Franz Colaja at the USeP Obrero campus; Mr Nelvin Villason and Carlito Hindoy at USeP Tagum; and the Davao del Norte Provincial Agricultural Offices Ms Alphabet Gulanes, Ms Irish Manalo and Mr Jerry Dalagan. In Australia we gratefully acknowledge the work by Ms Tegan Kukulies, Dr Anna McBeath, Mr David East, Mr Dillon Smith and Dr Hazel Gaza for their work with field, glasshouse and laboratory experiments. Also, our appreciation goes to Ms Michelle Sinn and Ms Leanne Bain for their valuable help with project management. Page 3 Final report: Integrated management of Fusarium wilt of bananas in the Philippines and Australia 2 Executive summary Fusarium wilt of bananas caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) is considered one of the most destructive banana diseases. The Tropical Race 4 (TR4) strain of the pathogen is particularly virulent on commercial Cavendish banana production, which supplies bananas to consumers around the world. Currently, there are 15 countries that have reported to have Fusarium TR4, mostly in South-East Asia. To reduce the impacts of Fusarium wilt and improve the livelihoods of banana growers in the Davao del Norte region of the Philippines and the north Queensland region of Australia, HORT/2012/097 was undertaken. The project aimed to; • increase knowledge of on-farm biosecurity, minimising Fusarium wilt incursions, • develop long-term management strategies to slow the spread of the disease and • develop options to allow smallholder producers to return to economic production. To achieve the overall aims, three objectives were undertaken; Firstly, was to develop options to limit losses in banana production by improving knowledge of on-farm biosecurity. On-farm biosecurity protocols were very effective in slowing the spread of Fusarium TR4 in Australia, following the outbreak of the disease near Tully in March 2015. Project work conducted in the Philippines demonstrated deficiencies in the implementation of on-farm biosecurity, due to lack of effective chemicals and poor implementation. However, this project identified how local solutions, using low cost boot scrapers constructed from wire mesh, together with effective disinfectants, could be implemented to improve farm biosecurity practices. The second objective was to evaluate integrated crop management approaches to enable commercial banana production in the presence of Fusarium wilt. In Australia, there was strong evidence that increasing soil microbial activity was related to suppression of Fusarium wilt. To increase soil microbial activity on banana farms vegetated ground cover was adopted over an estimated 1,500 ha (10%) of the north Queensland banana industry. In the Philippines, differences between Australia and Philippine banana production systems, meant that implementation of vegetated ground covers on smallholder