Viral diseases of banana.

Abstract

Abstract Banana and plantain are important fruit crops grown in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Millions of resource-poor people depend on them for their livelihood and food security. These fruit crops are destroyed by several viral diseases causing serious economic losses wherever the crops are cultivated. Here, recent developments on the spread, distribution, biology, diversity, recombination, host range, cutting-edge techniques in diagnostics and comprehensive management of important banana viruses, i.e., banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), banana streak viruses, banana bract mosaic virus and cucumber mosaic virus, as well as minor viruses such as banana mild mosaic virus, are exhaustively reviewed. Due to its high destructive potential, BBTV is regarded as a quarantine pest of very high importance in the banana exporting countries of South and Central America. Using tissue culture technology, it is now possible to control the viruses of banana by adopting virus-free certification programmes in conjunction with exclusion, eradication and adoption of quarantine measures.