Bananas are a staple food in the diet of millions throughout the subtropics and tropics, and the spread of Panama disease could have devastating effects on both large scale production and subsistence farms.
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Fusarium wilt ( Panama disease ) is the most serious disease of banana, threatening 80 % of the world's banana production, most of which is planted with the susceptible Cavendish varieties.
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The first big breakthrough came in 1977, with the development of a hybrid which provided a good banana bunch size, and was resistant to both burrowing nematode and Race 4 of Panama disease.
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Pacovan Ken, a banana breed resistant to yellow and black sigatoka and to Panama disease launched in November 2001 as a national crop plant in Brazil, is named after Embrapa scientist Kenneth Shepherd.
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They learned early that the plants were vulnerable to hurricanes, and the Panama Disease which began to appear in the 1910s in Panama completely destroyed banana growth very rapidly in areas where it took hold.
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"Fusarium oxysporum f . sp . cubense " is a fungal plant pathogen that causes Panama disease of banana ( " Musa " spp . ), also known as fusarium wilt of banana.
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However, according to Mark Moberg, most banana producers in Central America ( including Honduras ) " were scourged by Panama disease, a soil-borne fungus ( & ) that decimated production over large regions ".
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At the time, United Fruit Company ( the predecessor to Chiquita Brands International Inc ) was struggling to contain the spread of a soil-born fungus destroying its banana farms in Latin America, known as Panama disease ( Fusarium Wilt ).
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Scientists are trying to modify the banana plant to make it resist Panama disease and many other serious banana afflictions ranging from fungal, bacterial, and Hybrid bananas are being created in the hope of generating a new variety with strong resistance to diseases.
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In addition to the dramatic drop in banana exports caused by the depression, the fruit industry was further threatened by the outbreak in 1935 of epidemics of Panama disease ( a debilitating fungus ) and sigatoka ( leaf blight ) in the banana-producing areas.
