Trichy: The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) has said that the widely consumed banana variety called Grand Naine (G-9), which had been resistant to Fusarium wilt disease for the last three decades, has finally become susceptible to a new strain called Fusarium wilt TR4. If left unchecked, it could cause a serious threat to the banana industry as the variety accounts for $20 billion in global trade. The NRCB says that efforts are being made to manage the disease through various programmes.Addressing a high-level workshop here on Wednesday, NRCB director S Uma said that the Tropical Race 4 of Fusarium wilt had a potential to devastate the banana industry within a short time span if not contained on a war footing. She emphasized the need to sensitize the tissue culture companies about the disease as it was confined to some parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and TC companies had the responsibility of producing quality disease-free planting material for banana farmers. She explained the initiatives taken by NRCB for screening popular Indian banana varieties for TR4 resistance in the hotspots of Bihar and those identified as showing resistance to the dreaded disease.RR Hanchinal, consultant at Bioversity International, emphasized the need for survey and surveillance of TR4-affected areas. He said that concerted efforts involving all stakeholders and use of novel biotechnological approaches and breeding-resistant ‘cultivars’ were required to combat the deadly disease in the long term.“TR4 is a huge challenge for the banana industry as quarantine measures will be difficult to implement and cooperation of all stakeholders is needed to tackle it”, N Kumar, vice-chancellor of TNAU said. He assured that TNAU would collaborate with NRCB in evaluation and validation of control measures for TR4 for the benefit of banana farmers.

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