The vulnerability of Cuban banana production to Fusarium wilt caused by Tropical Race 4

Abstract

Bananas are major agricultural commodities in Cuba. One of the main constraints of banana production worldwide is Fusarium wilt of banana (FWB). Recent outbreaks in Colombia, Perú and Venezuela raise widespread concern in Latin America due to the potential devastating impact on the sustainability of banana production, food security, and livelihoods of millions of people in the region. Here, we phenotyped 18 important Cuban banana and plantain varieties with two Fusarium strains; Tropical Race 4 (TR4) and Race 1 under greenhouse conditions. These varieties represent 72,8% of the national banana acreage in Cuba and are also widely distributed in Latin America and the Caribbean region. A broad range of disease responses from resistant to very susceptible was observed against Race 1. On the contrary, not a single banana variety was resistant to TR4. These results underscore that TR4 potentially threatens nearly 56% of the contemporary Cuban banana production area, which is planted with susceptible and very susceptible varieties, and call for a preemptive evaluation of new varieties obtained in the national breeding program and the strengthening of quarantine measures to prevent the introduction of TR4 into the country.