ABSTRACT
Panama wilt of banana caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) Synder and Hanson is one of the most devastating diseases of banana in the world (Ploetz and Pegg 1997). The disease destroyed the main export cultivar “Gros Michel” (AAA genome) in the Central American/Caribbean region in the 1950s (Stover 1962). “Gros Michel” was then replaced with Cavendish cultivars (AAA genome), which are resistant to FOC race 1. Unfortunately, this cultivar has also succumbed to wilt attack because of the emergence of a virulent form of FOC (VCG 01213/16), which is now posing a serious threat to the multibillion-dollar banana export industry and also to the livelihood of small-scale banana growers (Ploetz 2005).
