Securing 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...
The 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...
Team meeting in Miami
As a satellite meeting to the 2016 International Banana Congress & ACORBOAT meeting in Miami, Florida, the INREF team met at the University of Florida and Tropical Research Center, Homestead, Florida, April 18-19 2016. The meeting was organized by Prof. Dr. Randy...
Disseminating Panama Disease in banana caused by one single clone of the Fusarium fungus
Scientists at Wageningen UR have demonstrated that the same clone of the Fusarium fungus is infecting Cavendish bananas in several countries dotted across the globe. This shows that this Fusarium clone, also known as Tropical Race 4,...
Fernando Garcia-Bastidas in Santa Marta Colombia
Last month Fernando Garcia-Bastidas was international speaker at the "I technical banana Colloquium: threats and challenges of the Banana sector facing variability and climate change” in Santa Marta Colombia. The meeting was...
Corbana publishes documents on TR4
Corbana, the National banana corporation of Costa Rica, recently has published some Spanish documents that address the Tropical Race 4 issue. These aim to raise awareness of the recommendations that can help...
Panama disease research on German TV channel
In November 2015 we received a German TV crew at WUR who also visited our partners in Indonesia and the Philippines. On 5 January 2016 the TV program Quarks & Co of WDR1, a national TV channel in...
ON EXPEDITION IN INDONESIA TO COLLECT FUSARIUM SAMPLES FROM INDIGENOUS BANANAS
Finding wild banana accessions infected with Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) causing Fusarium wilt of Panama disease in the tropical rain forest. That’s the goal of the second expedition PhD student...
GARCÍA JOINED THE 5TH TECHNICAL BANANA MEETING OF COLOMBIA
Fernando García, PhD student at Wageningen University and Research centre, visited the city of Santa Marta in Colombia as a representative of the banana research team of Wageningen UR.AUGURA, the national banana producer...
Kema and Ordonez spoke on the annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society
At the beginning of August, Gert Kema was invited to kick-off a special session titled “Banana Production at the Crossroad: Impact of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense TR4” at the annual meeting...
UNDERSTANDING THE DISSEMINATION OF PANAMA DISEASE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Maricar Salacinas, PhD student at Wageningen UR, works since two years on the understanding of the dissemination of Panama disease (or TR4) and the efficacy of current methodologies that are used to prevent further...
KEMA VISITS BANANA PLANTATIONS IN CHINA
In May, Gert Kema, group leader of the banana research group of Wageningen UR, visited China to discuss the current Panama disease situation and new ways to slow down and prevent further spreading among Chinese banana...
PANAMA DISEASE OUTBREAK IN AUSTRALIA
In Australia, in March 2015, the first outbreaks of Panama disease in banana plantations were reported. Farmers, authorities and other organisations work together to limit the spreading of this devastating banana disease to...
PANAMA DISEASE DETECTED IN PAKISTAN AND LEBANON
Following outbreaks in Jordan and Mozambique just over a year ago, the Tropical Race 4 strain (TR4) of Fusarium oxysporum – the cause of Panama disease in Cavendish bananas – has now spread to Pakistan and Lebanon. TR4 was...
NEW PHD STUDENT STUDIES THE GENES RESPONSIBLE FOR PANAMA DISEASE RESISTANCE IN BANANA
Since October 2014 a new PhD student from Indonesia, Fajarudin Ahmad, started at Wageningen University & Research centre to study the genes responsible for resistance to Panama disease. The program deals with...
KIDS TV-PROGRAM "HET KLOKHUIS" VISITS BANANA SCIENTISTS IN WAGENINGEN
On Tuesday the 17th of February, the Dutch kids program “Het Klokhuis” will broadcast an item about the banana recorded in the greenhouses of Wageningen UR. TV-presenter Dolores and Dr. Gert Kema, teach the kids a lot about...
PANAMA DISEASE RESEARCH RECEIVES AN EXTRA BOOST THROUGH THE DONATION FROM THE DIORAPHTE FOUNDATION
For the coming five years, Stichting Dioraphte is making available over 1.7 million Euros for the banana research of Wageningen UR. Part of this will be used for a research project which will start soon. The larger part of...
Wageningen Banana day
On November 18, the Wageningen Banana Day (WBD) will be organized. Professor Emeritus Ivan Buddenhagen (UC-Davis, USA), one of world’s renowned banana scientists opens the event with a keynote lecture. After lunch, a...
