Banana is one of the most important tropical crops

cultivated all over the world. It is included in the genus

Musa of the family Musaceae.

Banana plants are the world’s biggest herbs, growing

abundantly in many developing countries. They are

considered to be one of the most important source of energy

in the diet of people living in tropical humid regions. Banana

is a stenothermic plant, cultivated in hot and wet regions, and

it bears fruit all year round. Banana is not only the world’s

most popular fruit; it has carved an indelible niche for itself in

popular culture. Banana is considered as the fourth most

important food in the world after rice, wheat and maize.

The total banana production in the world is estimated to

be 28 million ton. Of these, 65 per cent of the banana is

produced by Latin America, 27 per cent in Southeast Asia and

7 per cent in Africa. Brazil is the leading banana grower in

South America, while Columbia and Ecuador are the leading

exporters (Thippesha et al., 2006).

India is the leading banana producer in Asia. India stands

in the second place behind China. Banana is cultivated

extensively in South India. It is one of the most important

commercial crops in South India. The common South Indian

banana varieties are Poovan, Chenkadali, Nendren, Robusta,

Moris, etc. Kanyakumari district ranks first in Tamilnadu. In

Kanyakumari district 30 per cent of the total cultivated area is

occupied by banana cultivars. Farmers cultivate banana plants

in three important methods, namely mono-cropping,

Author for Correspondence

J. LOHI DAS

Department of Botany, Scott

Christian College (Autonomous)

Nagercoil, KANYAKUMARI

(T.N.) INDIA

Email : lohiscott@yahoo.co.in

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE

intercropping and mixed cropping, according to the cultivars

(Raj, 1998).

Banana grows very well under humid, tropical condition

but can be cultivated even under humid or semi-arid sub-

tropical condition. It can be cultivated at the temperature range

between 10 - 40°C. Banana comes up well at altitude ranging

from sea level to 1000 m above sea level (Dodds, 1943).

Bananas are grown in variety of soils such as light sandy

soil, loamy alluvial soil and clayey brown cotton soil. The

ideal pH is about 6.5 – 7.5. It needs well drained soil. Banana

plant is a herb and propagated mainly by suckers. Tissue

culture plantlets are also used for cultivation (Morton, 1987).

Systematic position:

According to Engler and Prantl the family Musaceae is

included in the order Scitamineae of monocots. Rendle has

also included the family in the same order. Bentham and Hooker

anyhow placed this family in the order Epigynae. Hutchinson

put this family in his own way in the order Zingiberales.

RESEARCH METHODS

Kanyakumari district part of the western ghats is the

richest biogeographic province of India. It lies in the

Agasthiamalai region and very much potential for the

cultivation of banana. The tropical climate and rainfall influence

the rich diversity of the plants in this district. This study

highlights the different disease affecting the banana plants.

Studies on the diseases affecting banana cultivars in

Kanyakumari district

J. LOHI DAS

THE ASIAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE

Article history :

Received : 19.01.2012

Revised : 23.04.2012

Accepted : 20.05.2012

A Case Study

Volume 7 | Issue 1 | June, 2012 | 229-232

Abstract : Kanyakumari district is the southern most tip of India lies in the Western Ghats. The present

paper describes the diseases affecting banana varieties cultivated in Kanyakumari district. Fungal, bacterial,

viral diseases were identified and their symptoms, causing agent and control measures were studied. For

the identification of diseases, the traditional banana cultivators and horticultural officers were interviewed.

Key words : Banana, Psuedostem, Fusarium, Peduncle

How to cite this article : Das, J. Lohi (2012). Studies on the diseases affecting banana cultivars in

Kanyakumari district, Asian J. Hort., 7(1) : 229-232.

Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 7(1) June, 2012 : 230

The study sites were constructed each with 1000sq/mts length

and width. Study sites were visited on every fort night.

Data collection method:

Information’ about the diseases affecting the banana

plants were collected from sources like newspapers, journals,

test books and internet source was also used. Questionnaires

were prepared with questions regarding the characters and

diseases of banana were supplied to the traditional banana

cultivators in the selected study sites. Filled questionnaire

were collected after ten days.

Observation and identification:

Banana fields in the selected study sites were visited

one by one and found out the diseased plant and marked

them. Necessary photographs were taken from the field. The

different disease were identified by the information already

gathered from the newspaper, text books and Internet. The

disease were conformed by the help of the traditional farmers

and the horticulture officers.

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The word banana is the general term embracing a number

of species of hybrids in the genus Musa of the Musaceae. It

is cultivated extensively in Kanyakumari district. Farmers used

to cultivate banana plant in three important methods namely

mono-cropping, intercropping and mixed cropping. There are

36 varieties of banana cultivated in different parts of

Kanyakumari district. All the farmers of this district have the

knowledge of cultivating banana. Cultivation of banana is

not much easy; farmers facing many problems for the

successful cultivation. One of the major problem is disease.

Banana plants are affected by many viral, bacterial and fungal

diseases.

This study identified fourteen diseases which were

affecting the different varieties of banana cultivated in

Kanyakumari district. Among the fourteen, six were caused

by different species of fungus, five were caused by bacteria

and three were caused by virus. This study obsorbed that

viral diseases were more harmful.

Causing organisms:

The fungal diseases identified were black root rot caused

by Rosellinia bunodes, pseudo stem heart rot caused by

Fasaricm monilitorme, Panama wilt caused by Fusarium

orysporiem, black leaf streak caused by Fusarium monliforme,

leaf speckle caused by Acrodondium simplex and sooty mold

caused by Limacinula tenuis. The bacterial diseases identified

in this study were blood disease, moko disease and bugtok

caused by Ralstonia solancerum. Bacterial wilt was caused

by Pseudomonas solanacearum. The viral diseases identified

were banana bract mosaic caused by bract mosaic virus,

bunchy top of banana caused by Pentaloia migronervsa,

Cucumber mosaic disease caused by cumcumber mosaic virus.

Effect of fungi:

Among the six fungal diseases studied, the black root

rot (Fig. 9) and psuedostem heart rot (Fig. 12) completely

destroy the plant, whereas panama wilt (Fig. 10) and leaf streak

(Fig. 11) affect the fruit development and reduce the bunch

weight. Leaf speckle disease (Fig. 13) and shooty mold (Fig.

14) affects the leaf lamina and cause less damage to the plant.

Banana cultivars grown as intercrops are mostly affected

by the fungal diseases. Fusarium groups produce a rot in the

corm and that extended through the inflorescence axis which

may affect the bunch (Rangaswami and Rangarajan, 1993).

Effect of bacteria:

Among the five bacterial diseases studied, blood disease

causes yellowing of leaves and arrest the emergences of new

leaf (Fig. 1). Moko disease affects the fruit development and

premature ripening of fingers (Fig. 2). Bugtok causes peduncle

dry and fruit turns yellow in early stage (Fig. 3). Bacterial wilt

cause wiltering of younger leaf and finger tip rot causes the

blackening of tip of the fruits before maturity (Fig. 4).

Moko is a bacterial disease of banana caused by

Ralstomia solanacerum. Moko occurs on cultivars in the

Cavendish sub group (AAA). It has been reported from India

(Buddenhagen, 1961).

Ralstonia solanacearum discoloures the vascular

system of banana and blocks it, so it may arrest the fruit

development (Gnanamanikam et al., 1994).

Blood disease affects both desert and cooking banana

cultivars. It is a bacterial disease which causes necrosis and

arrests the emergence of new leaf. (Eden and Sastratmadja

1993).

Effect of virus:

This study inferred that viral diseases were more harmful

than the bacterial and fungal diseases. Among the three viral

diseases studied banana bract mosaic disease causes severe

damage to the bract that affect the fruit set (Fig. 6). Bunchy

top of banana leads stunded growth of leaves and plant cannot

grow further. The farmers remove the plant when they

confirmed the disease. Mosaic disease leads to the formation

of disserted leaves and this arrests the emergence of

inflorescence.

Mosaic infections leads chlorosis which has been known

for a long time to be caused by cumcumber mosaic virus.

Mosaic symptoms are most pronounced during cool weather

and this strain causes chlorosis, cigar leaf necrosis, internal

pseudostem necrosis and plant death (Fig. 8) (Thomas and

Iskra-carauna, 2000).

Bunchy top of banana is a common disease which affects

all groups of banana. It is a very serious disease of banana, it

collapses the vascular system and stunded growth of plant

J. LOHI DAS

229-232

Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 7(1) June, 2012 : 231

Plate 1 : Symptoms of different banana diseases

Blood disease (Bacterial disease) Moke disease (Bacterial disease)

Bugtok (Bacterial disease) Bacterial wilt (Bacterial disease)

Finger tip top (Bacterial disease) Bract mosaic disease (Bacterial

disease)

Bunchy top of banana (Viral

Disease)

Mosaic virus disease (Viral

disease)

STUDIES ON THE DISEASES AFFECTING BANANA CULTIVARS IN KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

Fig. 7 Fig. 8

Blood disease (Bacterial disease) Panama wilt (Fungal disease)

Black leaf streak (Fungal

disease)

Pseudostem heart rot (Fungal

disease)

Leaf speakle (Fungal disease) Sooty mold (Fungal disease)

Fig. 9 Fig. 10

Fig. 11 Fig. 12

Fig. 13 Fig. 14

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Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 7(1) June, 2012 : 232

J. LOHI DAS

(Fig. 7) (Darnell Smith and Tyron, 1923).

Conclusion:

This investigation finds that the farmers have poor

knowledge about the diseases affecting banana. They don’t

know about the causing organism and proper controlling

measures. So it is essential to create awareness about the

measures to control the diseases and try to introduce tissue

culture plantlets, so as to check the diseases for a certain

extend.

REFERENCES

Buddenhagen, I.W. (1961) Bacteria with bananas; history and known

distribution. Trop. Agric. (Trinidad), 38 : 107-121.

Darnell, Smith, G.P. and Tyron, H. (1923). Banana bunchy top

disease. Queensland Agric. J., 19 : 32-33.

Dodds, K.S. (1943). Banana varieties in relation to banana breeding.

Empire J. Exp. Agric., 11 : 89-91.

Eden, S.J. and Sastratmadja, H. (1993). Blood disease of banana

present in Java. FAO Plant Protection Bull., 38 : 49-50.

Gnanamanickam, S.S., Lokeswari, T.S. and Nandini, K.R. (1994)

Bacterial wilt of banana in southern India. Plant Disease Rep., 63 :

525-528.

Morton, J. (1987). Fruits of warm climates,

Raj, A.D.S. (1998). Agasthiorarmaaiyism a that choolalum

aadithavarathottamiyama? (In Tamil) In : Treasure of ideas (A

collection of articles presented in the Mano Research Forum). K.P.

Aravanan and M.P. Gurusamay ed: 243-256.M.S. University,

Tirunelveli.

Rangaswami, G. and Rangarajan, M. (1993). Fungal disease in banana.

Phytopathol., 55 : 1035-1036.

Thippesha, D., Raju, B., Mahantheh, B., Jemila Naik, O. and Srinivas,

V. (2006). Studies on bunch yield characters of banana cv. ROBUSTA

with different planting systems. J. Asian Hort., 2(2):86-90.

Thomas, J.E. and Iskra – Caruana, M.L. (2000). Bunchy top. In :

D.R. Jones, ed. Diseases of banana, Abaca and Enset, CAB

International, Walling ford, UK pp. 241-253.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

Http: www. Hort.prudue/ morton/ banana, html. pp. 29-43.

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