PPDL Picture of the Week
December 15, 2015
Moko Disease of Banana and Plantain
Tom Creswell, Plant Disease Diagnostician/Director, Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab
While cold winter weather has placed most plant diseases on
hold in the Midwest we can look to tropical regions for active pathogens. Moko
disease produces dramatic symptoms of wilt, dieback and death of banana and
plantain. The bacterial pathogen responsible for this havoc is Ralstonia solanacerum, which is actually
a complex of several strains and races (often corresponding to geographic
regions), affecting a wide range of host plants in both tropical and temperate
regions (1). Vegetable gardeners in the
Southeastern US often encounter this pathogen as the cause of bacterial wilt of
tomato and eggplant.
Moko disease has been known since the mid 1800s but gained
its name after it killed nearly all of Trinidad’s “Moko” plantain cultivar in
the early 1900s. This soil borne
bacterium is now endemic to most of Central and South America and can cause
losses of up to 100% in plantings where it becomes established. It is spread
via infested tools; runoff water and moving diseased plant material (2).
On a recent trip to Columbia I visited with managers at a
plantain farm and helped them identify Moko disease as the primary problem they
were facing (Fig 1, 2). The decline had previously been thought to be caused by
Fusarium wilt (another very serious problem of banana and plantain). Identification of the problem led to
management changes such as disinfecting tools and equipment, use of clean
planting stock and a plans to shift to alternative control options like
beneficial microorganism composts and rotation to non-host crops. There are no
effective chemical control measures available to manage Moko disease.
(1) http://www.padil.gov.au/pests-and-diseases/pest/main/136650
(2) http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3400e.pdf