Example of some control measure are as follow:
Fusarium wilt (Banana panama disease)
The first internal symptoms develop in feeder roots, the initial sites of infection (1,11). They progress to the rhizome and are most prominent where the stele joins the cortex. As the pseudostem is colonized, faint brown streaks or flecks become evident on and within older leaf sheaths. Eventually, large portions of the xylem turn a brick red to brown color.
The first external symptoms of Panama disease are a yellowing of the oldest leaves or a longitudinal splitting of the lower portion of the outer leaf sheaths on the pseudostem. This is followed by a wilt and buckling of leaves at the petiole base. In some cases, these leaves remain green. As the disease progresses, younger and younger leaves collapse until the entire canopy consists of dead or dying leaves.
Prevention is the most effective disease control measure. To help prevent Panama disease tropical race 4 from infecting your property, implement on-farm biosecurity practices such as wash-down and decontamination procedures and always use clean, disease free planting material such as tissue culture plants or plants from a proven disease free source.
Managing access to properties and training staff in hygiene management and early disease detection is vital to ensuring early identification and preventing disease introduction.
SIGATOKA BANANA DISEASE ( Black and Yellow banana Sigatoka)
Symptoms :
The first symptoms of black Sigatoka disease are tiny, chlorotic spots that appear on the bottom (abaxial) surface of the 3rd or 4th open leaf. The spots grow into thin brown streaks that are limited by leaf veins (Figure 1). The color of the streaks becomes darker, sometimes with a purple tinge, and visible on the top (adaxial) surface. The lesions then enlarge, becoming fusiform or elliptical, and darken to give the characteristic black streaking of the leaves (Figure 2). Adjacent tissue often has a water-soaked appearance, especially under conditions of high humidity.
Control and Management :
Fungicide is frequently applied in areas that have succumbed to the disease, marking no-tolerance zones in areas where there used to be some fungal activity.
Affected leaves are carefully removed without contact with the rest of the plants in the hectare, to isolate the disease to a single region of a plant.
As a precaution, herbs are planted with adequate spacing in between "individuals" (although most bananas in a plantation are of one genotype).
Pools of water where spores could rest during their journey of infection are minimized by building drains that sufficiently collect and channel water to a region far from the banana plantation.
Banana Weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus )
Symptoms
The infestation by C. sordidus begins at the base of the dying outermost leaf-sheath and in injured tissues at the lower part of the pseudostem. Initially the young larvae make several longitudinal tunnels in the surface tissue until they are able to penetrate to adjacent inner leaf-sheaths; the larvae then bore into the pseudostem base and rhizome (in bananas, also into the base of suckers and into roots). Larval tunnels may run for the entire length of fallen pseudostems.
Infested plants have dull yellow green and floppy foliage. Young infested suckers often wither and fail to develop. In a high wind more than average numbers of plants blow down, at times with severe losses.
The young suckers attacked by the borers wither and die very quickly because of larval feeding and tunneling between the lateral roots and the corm. An indication that a young plant is infested is the withering and drying of the curled roll of unopened leaves or growing part of the plant.
Control measures
Picture showing banana weevil collection
An infected banana plant and bunch
Banana bunchy top disease affects the banana fruit and foliage, and is caused by a single-strand DNA virus, the banana bunchy top virus. BBTV can infect species of the Musaceae family, which includes bananas, plantains, abaca, and more. It is best to establish a banana production area where these alternate hosts are not present. Any age plants can be infected by this virus, but some varieties of banana, including the Cavendish, are more susceptible to the virus. In areas where the virus is less common, the disease is usually spread by planting diseased suckers at the beginning of the season, which means the season is started with a diseased crop.
Control measures
Banana Streak virus
Banana streak virus (BSV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family Caulimoviridae. The primary symptoms of disease are chlorotic streaks on leaves and splitting of the pseudostem. In later stages of the disease, these streaks may become necrotic, and the heart of the pseudostem may rot, ultimately leading to death of the plant.
Control measures