Current status of molecular diagnostic methods of TR4
As keynote speaker Gert Kema took part in the 1st Global Fusarium Tropical Race 4 meeting themed “Threats and opportunities’. He talked about the current status of molecular diagnostic methods of TR4 and in particular whether Wageningen University & Research (WUR) can...
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New field test detects banana fungus TR4 faster than ever
A field test that is faster and more practical than laboratory tests for detecting Tropical Race 4 (TR4) – the Fusarium strain that causes the much-feared Panama disease in bananas has been developed by researchers from Wageningen University & Research. This so-called...
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First report of Panama disease in Cavendish bananas caused by TR4 in Colombia
An international research team has scientifically confirmed the presence of the fungus Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4) in Cavendish banana plants in Colombia. The findings are published in an open source article in the journal Plant Disease. Read more:...
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PhD managing Panama Disease in the Philippines
On 27 August 2019 Maricar Salacinas defended her PhD research at Wageningen University on Fusarium odoratissimum Tropical race 4 (TR4) in the Philippines. In this research she used molecular diagnostic tools to examine the spatial dispersal, epidemiology and...
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TR4 Global Network: knowledge hub for awareness and prevention disease spreading
The World Banana Forum and FAO are establishing the TR4 Global Network (TR4GN), a leading platform for exchange and collaboration that aims at becoming a knowledge hub for awareness and prevention of the spread of the disease. TR4GN supports tools, information about...
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Future of bananas in the Americas
With the confirmation of the Panama disease Tropical Race 4 (TR4) in bananas in Latin America, bananas will become scarcer and prices will rise. This will mostly impact the people for which the bananas are a fundamental source of nutrition. The analysis of banana...
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Fusarium wilt TR4 may have reached Latin America
In Colombia four plantations in northern Colombia have been quarantined because of suspected infection with Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4). This finding has yet to be confirmed. As can been seen in Asia, the extreme damaging banana disease can wipe out entire...
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Australia stimulates tackling Panama disease
Australian’s Queensland government is attempting to restrict the spread of the destructive Panama disease TR4 in Australia. To tackle the spread of the disease, the government injected the Australian Banana Growers’ Council with AUD$12.1 million in funding, calling...
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Dutch Greenhouse bananas grown above ground
The first bananas were harvested in a Wageningen Greenhouse, according to the Wageningen World Magazine. Researchers have been growing them above ground in order to trying to outsmart the Panama disease caused by Fusarium Wilt, which is threatening the banana...
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Overcoming the developing pandemic of Panama disease in banana
New methods to efficiently monitor Panama disease, also known as Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium species in bananaswere developed during the PhD research of Fernando Garcia-Bastidas at Wageningen University and Research. These new methods and trials enabled a close...
read moreSustainable bananas in greenhouses: first ‘Dutch bananas’ harvested
Growing Dutch bananas in a greenhouse Researchers from Wageningen University & Research are harvesting the first Dutch bananas this week. Boerenhart, a supplier of fresh and local products will offer the bananas as 'regional product' to...
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PhD research on the relationship between Fusarium wilt and bananas in Indonesia
A leading strategy for managing the ongoing pandemic of Fusarium wilt in bananas is the generation of resistant banana varieties. To gain insight into the diversity of the causal fungi, Nani Maryani Martawi looked to the Indonesian archipelago, where hundreds of wild...
read moreGene identified for full virulence of the Fusarium wilt towards Cavendish banana
In an article in the PLOS One journal researchers identified a gene and protein that is required for full virulence of the fungus that causes Furasium wilt in Cavendish banana. A mutant of the Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense...
read morePhD defence on insights into the global genetic diversity of Fusarium
On October 17th 2018 Nadia Ordóñez defended her PhD entitled ‘A global genetic diversity analysis of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc)’ at Wageningen University. In her research the genetic and geographically...
read moreNew publication on improving banana cultivation
Recent research on improving banana cultivation is bundled in the new publication ‘Achieving sustainable cultivation of bananas Volume 1’. Both the banana research community as well as banana producers will find information...
read moreHow can we protect bananas?
The Biomedical Science Journal for Teens has put research into banana Black Sigatoka disease in the spotlight. The disease is threatening commercial Cavendish banana crops worldwide, as the fungus that causes it has...
read moreGenome sequencing of Sigatoka fungus
On June 6th Caucasella Diaz, Mexico, defended her PhD thesis titled “Functional genetics and genomics of the banana black Sigatoka pathogen Pseudocercospora fijiensis” at Wageningen University. Her thesis describes the...
read moreINREF and KNAW-SPIN progress
All students are writing their PhD books! Hence, we are in harvest time. We expect dozens of new exciting papers that will move the front forward and together form a solid foundation for a new phase in Panama disease...
read moreEinar Martinez de la Parte joins the Wageningen Banana team
Since November 21, 2017 Einar Martinez, Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Vegetal (INISAV), Cuba, started his PhD project on Panama disease in banana. In Cuba, more than 179.000 ha of dessert bananas and plantain...
read moreInauguration of professor Gert Kema
In September 2017 the inauguration of Professor Gert Kema as professor by special appointment for Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University & Research took place. During his inauguration Kema revealed what it will...
read moreBanana research at the International Congress of Plant Pathology
During the International Congress of Plant Pathology, ICPP, in Boston this summer, the banana research community will be organising two events. The first meeting is a satellite meeting on Saturday July 28 titled “Fusarium wilt disease of banana: recurrence of a...
read moreFrontiers in Plant Science Research Topic on Panama disease
The visibility of the Wageningen Panama disease research, has resulted in “Panama Disease of Banana, a Recurring Threat to Global Banana Production” a Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Science, one of the leading...
read moreSecret sex life of fungus extends value of resistant wheat for food production
Kema and co-workers recently published an article in the prestigious Nature Genetics journal on the sex life of Zymoseptoria tritici, the causal agent of septoria tritici blotch in wheat, the most important wheat disease...
read moreNational Geographic visits Wageningen University and Research
On January 24, National Geographic visited WUR and filmed during a course that Prof. Kema is teaching on Frontiers in Medical and Veterinary Biology. They were particularly interested in banana research and visited the...
read moreNew insight into mechanism making Black Sigatoka fungus less sensitive to crop protection
An international team of scientists led by Wageningen University & Research has discovered a new genetic mechanism that makes the notorious Black Sigatoka fungus less sensitive to the main chemical crop protection products used against the disease. The discovery...
read moreMinister Sigrid Kaag visit to WUR
Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, has visited Unifarm at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She was received by Louise O. Fresco, chairman of WUR and professor Gert Kema. The...
read moreWageningen scientists participate in Colombian Banana forum 2017
November 2017 Gert Kema and Fernando Garcia Bastidas gave a presentation at the III Colombian Banana forum 2017. About Sustainable Production: Challenges and Opportunities of the Colombian banana sector. The meeting was organised by...
read moreTransgenic Cavendish in the news
The big news of the first transgenic Cavendish banana resistant to TR4 has reached the press. In the Netherlands one of the main national news channels (NOS) made an item for their website. Fernando Garcia Bastidas, one of the banana...
read moreWorld-first Panama disease-resistant Cavendish bananas
Researchers from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, have designed genetically modified Cavendish bananas with resistance to the devastating soil-borne Panama disease. This disease is caused by the...
read moreNew website
We are proud to present our new website: www.fusariumwilt.org . Panamadisease.org will maintain accessible, but there is a serious plea to dissociate the name Panama from the disease in banana. The main reason, though was to keep up...
read moreProject together with Rahan Meristem
Rahan Meristem, and Wageningen University & Research have engaged into a project targeting at identifying Cavendish bananas with improved resistance to Panama disease or Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp....
read moreGert Kema crossed the globe
During the autumn of 2016 Gert Kema visited several important banana research teams and banana production regions and discussed many ongoing and new research projects around the globe. Philippines Kema...
read moreVisit from the Philippines
A high diplomatic delegation from the Philippines visited Wageningen University and Research as well as several spin-off companies with major activities in Mindanao on November 22. The delegation comprised of Arnel V. de...
read moreMinister of Agriculture of Costa Rica visited Wageningen University and Research
On 21 November Mr. Luis Felipe Arauz, Minister of Agriculture of Costa Rica visited the banana program at WUR. Gert Kema and Rafael Segura Mena, INREF sandwich PhD from the national banana coporation of Costa Rica...
read moreKNAW-SPIN research on the future of Indonesian bananas
The Indonesian-Dutch research team investigates social, agro-ecological and biological conditions for conserving diversity of bananas. Bananas are deep-rooted in the Indonesian landscape and form an essential ingredient of...
read morePablo Chong Aguirre graduates at Wageningen University and Research
On Monday 31 October 2016 Pablo Chong Aguirre, originating from Ecuador, successfully defended his PhD thesis on “The origin, versatility and distribution of azole fungicide resistance in the banana black Sigatoka...
read moreArticle on The conversation covered by CNN
Ioannis Stergiopoulos, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis; André Drenth, Professor of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland and Gert Kema, Special Professor of...
read moreDNA of banana fungus unravelled for more sustainable banana crops
DNA of banana fungus unravelled for more sustainable banana crops. An international consortium led by Prof. Gert Kema from Wageningen University and Research has unravelled the DNA of Pseudocercospora fijiensis, the fungus...
read moreSecuring the future of the UK’s favourite fruit
The British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) granted a project to the University of Exeter on “Securing the future of the UK's favourite fruit”. The UK is highly dependent on imported fruit and vegetables...
read moreThe threat of Panama Disease
In 2015 Dr Gert HJ Kema made aerial images of banana plantations in the Davao region of Mindanao, the Philippines; the heart of commercial Cavendish banana production for the export trade. The Tropical Race 4 lineage of the...
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