A current appraisal of banana and plantain diseases in Malawi

Abstract

Abstract Major banana and plantain production centres in Malawi were surveyed for diseases and soil‐borne pests in June 1990. Fusarium wilt, which is also known as Panama disease (caused by Fusarlum oxysporum f. sp. cubense) caused considerable damage throughout the Karonga and Chitipa Districts of the Northern Region. The disease has been recognized in these areas since the early 1970s and probably was introduced into Malawi from southern Tanzania. The disease has eliminated the preferred banana cultivar, ‘Bluggoe’, in northern parts of the Karonga District, and at the time of the survey had begun damaging ‘Pisang awak’, the cultivar many producers have used to replace ‘Bluggoe’. Fusarium wilt was also found for the first time in the Thyolo and Mulanje Districts of the Southern region on ‘Bluggoe’. Black leaf streak (caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis) was observed in the Nkhata Bay and Karonga Districts; it is reported for the first time in Malawi. The disease has been in the respective areas for 4 and ...