Table 1.
Major diseases of banana and plantains
| Diseases | Causative agent | Symptoms | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viral | |||
| Banana bunchy top | Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) | Stunted growth, leaf atrophy and chlorosis, young leaves appear choked or bunched appearance like rosette, leaves are upright with wavy margins, dark green dot or dash flecks along the veins | Dale and Harding (1998), Chen and Hu (2013) |
| Banana streak disease | Banana streak virus (BSV) | Yellow streaks on the banana leaves which later turns necrotic, splitting of pseudostem and rotting | Gayral et al. (2008), Manoranjitham et al. (2012) |
| Fungal | |||
| Fusarium wilt | Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) | Yellowing of the leaves, splitting of the pseudostem, falling off of the older leaves around the pseudostem, discoloration of the rhizome and pseudostem, wilting of the leaves | Ploetz (2006), Ghag et al. (2015a) |
| Black Sigatoka | Mycosphaerella fijiensis | Reddish-brown flecks on the lower leaf surface which runs parallel to leaf veins, lesions turns dark brown to black and appears sunken later, heavy infestation leads to necrotic lesions and falling off leaves | Carlier et al. (2000a); Etebu and Young-Harry (2011), Kumakech et al. (2015) |
| Yellow Sigatoka | Mycosphaerella musicola | Symptoms similar to black Sigatoka except the early streaks are seen more on the upper surface of the leaves which are yellow–green, narrower and shorter | Surridge et al. (2003), Perera and Kelaniyangoda (2013) |
| Anthracnose | Colletotrichum musae | Development of dark, sunken spots or lesions on affected leaves and fruit, fruit turns black and shrivels | Khan et al. (2001); Zakaria et al. (2009) |
| Septoria leaf spot | Mycosphaerella eumusae | Light brown streaks on the lower side of the leaf, later streaks developed into oval lesions with gray centers as small necrotic, and dark brown spots | Carlier et al. (2000b); Amani and Avagyan (2014) |
| Bacterial | |||
| Xanthomonas wilt | Xanthomonas campestris p. v. musacearum | Yellowing and wilting of leaves, diseased pseudostem shows yellowish bacterial ooze, immature fruits turn yellow, infected plants withers away | Biruma et al. (2007), Tripathi et al. (2009) |
| Moko | Ralstonia solanacearum (race 2) | Symptoms are similar to Fusarium wilt. Older leaves first turn chlorotic and wilt and then younger leaves are affected, internally fruit remains firm but becomes brown and later turns gray, vascular discoloration and presence of milky discharge after suspending in water | Ploetz (2003), Chaube and Pundhir (2005) |
| Rhizome rot |
Erwinia carotovora/ Erwinia chrysanthemi |
Wilting of the foliage, stunting and vascular discoloration of the pseudostem, water soaked lesions at the site of infection followed by necrotic lesions, loss of turgor in tissues, breaking of the pseudostem at the collar, rotting of rhizome and unpleasant odor | Gowen (2012), Arun et al. (2013), Nagrale et al. (2013) |
| Nematode | |||
| Root-knot | Meloidogyne incognita/ Meloidogyne javanica | Swollen, galled primary and secondary roots, root tip growth ceases, yellowing of the leaves, stunted plant growth and reduced fruit yield | Jaizme-Vega et al. (1997), De Waele and Davide (1998) |
| Nematode root rot | Radopholus similis | Root necrosis, stunted growth, delayed fruiting, toppling of the plants | Volcy (2011), Bartholomew et al. (2014) |