SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF MOKO AND BUGTOK DISEASES OF BANANA

Professorial Chair Lecture

SEARCA PROFESSIONAL CHAIR LECTURE

Place

DRILLON HALL, SEARCA

Date

9-10-2010

Abstract

Moko and bugtok diseases of bananas are caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuchii et al. In the Philippines, the two distances may seem different because moko is observed more often, affecting the export variety "Cavendish" with silt symptoms, while bugtok is very common in cooking bananas like "saba and "cardaba as friuit pulp discoloration.

We conducted cross-inoculation under field conditions to better understand the relationship of our endemic bugtok strain with the moko strain of Ralstonia solanacearum Rcae 2. Symptom expression was affected by the age of the plant, cultivar, mode of transmission, and strain of R. Solanacearum. Both cardaba and cavendish cultivars developed wilt or moko symptoms when inoculated with either moko or bugtok stains. Cardaba had the ability to recover from wilting when inoculated at 3 to 6 months after transplanting (AT). Late inoculation at 9 months AT of cardaba resulted in a very slow increase in wilt incidence over time but reached almost 100% maturity. A high incidence of wilt occurred in cavendish 2-3 weeks after inoculation, especially when the bugtok strain was used. All plants that survived had several degrees of fruit pulp discoloration or bugtok symptoms. The acrdaba fruits had a higher number of fingers discolored per bunch.

Infection via the inflorescense did not result in wilt symptoms. Fruit pulp discoloration in both cultivars resulted when bacteria were sprayed on male or female flowers and when bacteria were injected at the base of the flower bud before emergence. Cardaba had the higher bugtok symptoms than cavendish, while the bugtok strain caused higher fruit pulp discoloration than the moko strain across the cultivars.

Management strategies for moko and bugtok diseases should be similar if infection is via wounds created in the pseudostem or corns, whether the variety is cavendish or cardaba. Disinfection of tools used in desuckering, ebudding, or deleafing, use of disease-free planting materials, and clean culture to remove weeds and voluner plants should minimize the incidence of wilt or moko symptoms. If present on the farm, early detection and swift destruction of infected plants and mats should be done. Instead of the usual rice hull burning, burning of standing Moko-infected plants could be an alternative. By doing so, a high population of bacteria from plants is not allowed to ooze out in the soil. Planting of sorghum during the fallow period was found ineffective. For bugtok, protecting the female and male flowers by early bagging will prevent insects from transmitting R. Solanacearum. Since the cooking of the bananas is very tall and bagging may be impractical, the combination of sanitation, disinfection of cutting tools, and removal of male buds as soon as false hands appear should result in good control.

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