Uncategorized – Page 7 – Better Bananas

Shanara Veivers

Diversity and hard work paves the path for a rewarding career in horticulture.

It’s not every day you find a job that sees you out and about doing field work, running lab experiments, organising and facilitating events, and visiting banana growers on farm. This is all in a day’s work for Research Horticulturist Shanara Veivers, who has gained a diverse range of experience since starting with the Department approximately four years ago.

As an integral member of the banana extension team, Shanara has been responsible for managing an innovation trial based at the South Johnstone Research Facility. This has involved investigating a number of ‘out of the box’ concepts focused on increasing agronomic and environmental performance of banana farming systems. Some of her research areas have included the effects of different de-suckering methods, ground covers, ‘softer’ chemical options, and more recently the use of entomopathogenic nematodes for the control of banana weevil borer and bunch pests.

Shanara Veivers
Research Horticulturist
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ecosciences Precinct
Brisbane

When she isn’t working in the trial, Shanara’s time is spent undertaking farm visits, conducting small demonstration trials as well as planning and organising extension events for industry, including the National Banana Roadshows.

Growing up in Queensland’s beautiful Far North, Shanara has always felt an affinity with the environment and agriculture. It’s not surprising that this interest led her to complete a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Environmental Science, at James Cook University in Townsville. Shanara says, ‘Growing up in the local region, where agriculture, particularly banana production is so important for our community, the most exciting part of my role is being a part of the banana farming community. Working with leading scientists and industry stakeholders and being able to provide growers with the latest R&D as well as practical solutions for their farming operations gives me the greatest satisfaction.’

In recognition of Shanara’s contribution to banana research, development and extension activities, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has nominated her for the 2020 Queensland Women in STEM Prize.
Away from work, Shanara enjoys being outdoors and keeping active. She said without a doubt bananas are a staple fruit at home, with banana pancakes topping the list as her favourite banana recipe.

Kathy Grice

Horticulture's jewel in the north!

For horticultural producers, plant diseases can be the bane of your existence. That’s why many turn to Kathy Grice for assistance. Working in plant pathology for the past 33 years, Kathy offers a wealth of knowledge and experience to help diagnose plant diseases as well as providing management options. With her career based in Far North Queensland a large portion of Kathy’s time has been working on solutions for Australian banana growers.

Kathy’s work is primarily in diagnostics. Banana samples sent to her lab in Mareeba vary from leaf and fruit disorders to corm and root diseases. The primary objective of Kathy’s work in diagnostics is to ensure exotic plant pathogens are not present in our local banana industry. The importance of her diagnostic work is best exemplified by her key role in the black Sigatoka response that resulted in the successful eradication of the disease in Far North Queensland in the early-mid 2000s.

More recently, Kathy and colleague Peter Trevorrow have focussed their research on the post-harvest quality issue of Crown end rot. As part of this work they have looked into ‘softer’ control options as an alternative to registered fungicides, with some biological products showing promising results.

Kathy Grice
Senior Experimentalist (Plant Pathology)
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Mareeba Research Station, Mareeba, Qld

Recently Kathy was awarded the prestigious ‘Lester Burgess Diagnostics and Extension Award’ for her contribution to her field of plant pathology and service to horticultural industries.

When asked what she enjoyed most about her work, Kathy responded, ‘The most exciting or rewarding part of any research is being able to provide a grower/s or an industry with a solution to a particular problem or issue. I think I enjoy the variety in the work (a mix of laboratory and field work) and learning new ways of tackling research.’

Kathy is a Mareeba resident and an amateur twitcher, so you may find her bird watching in her free time. She also enjoys yoga and travelling overseas to experience different cultures and food.

Katelyn Ferro

Posted on 2019-07-19 by Better Bananas

Katelyn Robertson

After finishing an Ag Science degree at the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus, Katie made the move to Far North Queensland, accepting a research horticulturist role at South Johnstone with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Over the past three years, working with the banana research and development team, Katie’s main focus has been research into Panama disease.

Katie is currently working in banana variety research, assessing the post-harvest characteristics of fruit from the Goldfinger mutagenesis trial. This work is aimed at finding a commercially viable banana variety that has resistance to Panama disease tropical race 4.

We asked Katie what is the most exciting part of her research and what she enjoys the most. “I’ve come to realise how unique banana plants are compared to most other crops and, although often frustrating, I like the challenge this presents and the problem solving required to develop research methods tailored to its individuality. I really enjoy working on impactful projects where the outcome of the research could benefit Australian banana growers.”

Katie’s childhood was spent in Delaneys Creek in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, but lived in Brisbane for all her schooling years. Her love for the outdoors sees her hiking North Queensland’s beautiful national parks. Katie is also keen to learn new skills and is currently learning how to play electric guitar. Her favourite banana recipe is Banana ice-cream, made from frozen banana that is blended until creamy.

Research Horticulturist
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture, South Johnstone, Qld

Agronomic evaluation of new varieties – South Johnstone

Posted on 2019-07-19 by Better Bananas

Latest update...

The first ratoon crop is now completed in the variety trial and the results are encouraging with:

The TBRI Cavendish selection Asia Pacific #3 showing comparable yields and fruit length to Williams over the two crop cycles, combined with Panama disease TR4 resistance much better than Formosana in the NT trials.
Continued good performance of the four Cavendish selections from Rahan Meristem with yields and finger length equivalent to Williams, with at least two of the selections being significantly shorter in stature.
The Dwarf Cavendish selection Brier, from the Canary Islands, having yields and fruit length equivalent to Williams, while being significantly shorter in stature.

Click here for more information on first ratoon observations and results

About the trial

Growers are keeping a keen eye on the 32 varieties included in the latest agronomic evaluation at South Johnstone. This is the first step at looking at new introductions that may have commercial potential for the Australian banana industry.

This research forms a significant part of the project Improved Plant Protection for the Banana Industry (BA16001), looking at the agronomic traits as well as pest and disease tolerance of imported varieties. This project provides for 3 variety assessment trials across Australia at Alstonville (previously Duranbah NSW), South Johnstone (Qld) and Coastal Plains (NT), assessing resistance to Panama disease Race 1 and TR4, agronomic performance, cold tolerance and yellow Sigatoka resistance.

Several of the varieties included in the current South Johnstone trial are also being screened in the Northern Territory to determine or confirm resistance to TR4.

Varieties were planted in September 2018 and assessment of agronomic traits will be collected over three crop cycles and a yellow Sigatoka leaf spot screening in the fourth cycle. Several new varieties that have shown resistance to TR4 overseas are included in the evaluation.
With an agreement now in place with the Taiwan Banana Research Institute, it will be possible to progress some of the better performing Taiwanese varieties to on-farm trials. The ability to grow these varieties as part of on-farm trials will allow for a greater number of plants than what is possible at South Johnstone Research Facility.

Varieties being evaluated

A suite of Taiwanese selections of Cavendish present in Australia. Also included is a selection made in Australia from a former introduction.
Agro-biotechnology company Rahan Meristem imported four of their elite Cavendish selections into Australia from Israel— Gal, Jaffa and two selections of Adi. The main features include reduced plant stature and large well-structured bunches. These selections are proving popular in various export production zones around the globe. However, these selections are not claimed to have any resistance to Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4). North Queensland producers that have seen them growing overseas have been keen to see them evaluated by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) for some time. Rahan Meristem own these varieties and have agreed that results from our evaluations can be made publicly available.
Four hybrids from the breeding program of CIRAD in the French West Indies. Overseas these have shown resistance to leaf disease and Panama disease race 1. Three of these hybrids have shown good resistance to Panama disease TR4 in our Northern Territory trials completed last year.
Two Cavendish selections from the Canary Islands. These selections of Dwarf Cavendish form the basis of their 400,000 t/yr. export industry to mainland Europe.

A list of varieties being evaluated is now available.

Observations and results

Observations and results are now available for both plant crop and first ratoon.

What's next?

Harvest of second ratoon bunches is now nearly completed. About 10% of the data plants were damaged in early March due to the strong winds brought on by the tropical low (which later developed into Cyclone Niran). Due to the development stage of the Taiwanese Cavendish varieties, these suffered the highest losses. Come November/December the next step will be to nurse sucker the block to synchronize development for leaf spot resistance assessment in the 2022 wet season.

In addition, a new trial was planted at South Johnstone in October 2020. We are evaluating some new varieties which have cleared quarantine since the present trial was established in 2018, along with some improved selections which have been identified in Australia.

Field walks of the trial have provided the opportunity for growers and industry stakeholders to view bunches hanging during the plant and first ratoon crops.

More information...

If you would like further information feel free to contact the Better Bananas team via email at betterbananas@daf.qld.gov.au.

This research has been funded as part of the project Improved Plant Protection for the Banana Industry (BA16001), which is funded by Hort Innovation, using the banana research and development levy, co-investment from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

Images of Panama disease tropical race 4

Posted on 2019-07-04 by Better Bananas

Images of Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4)

Images courtesy of Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Meet a researcher — Jeff Daniells

Posted on 2018-12-13 by Better Bananas

Jeff Daniells

Jeff has been working with bananas for the past 37 years as a research horticulturist with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries based at South Johnstone. He is passionate about bananas and currently works on a number of important industry projects looking at disease resistance and agronomics of alternative varieties — particularly those varieties which have some tolerance to Panama disease tropical race 4.

Growing up in Brisbane Jeff completed his Master’s degree at the University of Queensland and has always had a hands-on approach to learning about bananas. In fact, prior to starting his career, he meticulously kept harvest data (weights, hands and finger numbers) for a stool of Lady Fingers in parent’s backyard. Some call this destiny!

Jeff enjoys Saba (Pisang Gajih Merah) bananas boiled in the jacket served with meat and vegetables and in his spare time enjoys fishing and playing tennis with friends and family.

Principal Horticulturist
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture, South Johnstone, Qld

Reducing inoculum – field trials

Posted on 2018-02-23 by Better Bananas

Field trials - reducing inoculum

The use of high rates of urea to reduce disease inoculum levels of plants infected with Panama disease has been investigated. Researchers have looked at the effect of applying urea to both the soil surface surrounding infected plants as well as infected pseudostems.

Two field trials conducted at Duranbah in New South Wales used a site infested with Panama disease race 1. In the first field trial, Dwarf Ducasse plants showing symptoms of Panama disease race 1 were cut off at ground level. The growing point was then gouged out and a 1 m² area was treated around each plant. All gouged corms were treated with 200 g of urea and the 1 m2 areas around the plants were treated with either:

urea (1 kg/m²) and covered with black plastic
urea (1 kg/m²), watered in (10 L) and covered with black plastic
urea (1 kg/m²), Basamid® (500 g/m²), watered in (10 L) and covered with black plastic
plastic only
untreated.

Soil samples were taken from the treatment areas 6 and 15 days after the treatments were applied. The soil was analysed to determine the ammonium content in surface (0-5 cm) and subsurface (5-15 cm) soil and the populations of Fusarium oxysporum in the subsurface samples (5-15 cm).

So what happened under these treatments?

As expected the ammonium levels were significantly greater in the soil treated with urea. As a result the number of Fusarium oxysporum spores in the soil (including the strain that causes Panama disease race 1) measured by the number of colony forming units (cfu) was significantly reduced.

The table below shows the levels of ammonium (ppm) in the soil 6 and 15 days after treatment application.

Means in each column with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% level (P<0.001). For example at 15 days after treatment at surface depth (0-5 cm) there was no significant difference between untreated and plastic. However, there was a significant difference between urea and all the other treatments (15 days at surface depth 0-5 cm).

The graph below shows the significant reduction in cfu under the urea treatments.

The second field trial investigated the method of cutting up infected pseudostem material and placing it into bags with urea. To test this technique Dwarf Ducasse plants infected with Panama disease race 1 were cut into 15 cm length and placed inside heavy duty plastic garbage bags. Some of the bags included 1 kg of urea and some bags contained no urea. After 6 weeks pieces of vascular tissue were plated out to determine the survival of the fungus. There was no recovery of the fungus that causes race 1 in any of the bags which were treated with urea. There was some reduction in survival of the fungus in the untreated bags, but the pathogen was still recovered.

So what does this all mean...

These field trials confirm that the current method for dealing with infected plants does significantly reduce the amount of inoculum in banana paddocks infested with Panama disease.

For more information about this work contact the better bananas team: betterbananas@daf.qld.gov.au or 13 25 23.

This trial was funded as part of Biosecurity Queensland’s Panama TR4 Program and the Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4 – Biosecurity and Sustainable Practices project (BA14013). This project (BA14013) was funded by Hort Innovation, using the banana research and development levy, co-investment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

Reducing inoculum – Lab trials

Posted on 2018-02-22 by Better Bananas

Lab trials - reducing inoculum

To reduce disease inoculum levels, researchers have investigated the practice of using high rates of urea on the soil surface immediately surrounding infected plants.

Lab trials at South Johnstone used a soil bioassay with spores of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc), the fungus that causes Panama disease race 1. This was used as surrogate for tropical race 4. The inoculated soil was treated with one of the following treatments:

‘control’ – no urea or lime treatment
urea (rate equal to 0.5 kg/m²)
lime (rate equal to 0.5 kg/m²)
both lime and urea (rate equal to 0.5 kg/m²).

Interestingly, Foc was not recovered from soil that was treated with urea and the urea/lime combination. Foc was however recovered from soil treated with lime only, proving the application of lime on its own as ineffective at reducing inoculum levels.

Outcomes...

Lab trial results have shown that both urea and the combination of urea and lime at the specified rates are effective at killing the spores that cause Panama disease race 1.

Further lab investigations

Further trial work has evaluated the effectiveness of lower application rates of urea as well as chemical alternatives that are suggested to be toxic to Foc. The same bioassay using soil in jars was used to determine the effectiveness of the following treatments:

potassium chlorate @ 4, 8 and 16% (w/v)
sodium nitrite at 200, 400 and 800 ppm
nitrite at 200 and 400 ppm
lower rates of urea (rate equal to 0.031, 0.062, 0.125, 0.25 and 0.5 kg/m²).

These investigations showed that urea applied at 0.062 kg/m² or greater prevented Foc recovery from soil. All the other chemical alternatives were not effective at reducing the recovery rate of Foc.

Additional trials have investigated the effectiveness of different urea rates (between 0.031 and 0.062 kg/m²) and further explored alternative sources of ammonium. This time the effect of urea, ammonium nitrate + potassium hydroxide and aqueous ammonia were assessed. The trial showed that ammonia (NH₃) from any source that produces a concentration equal to or above 2500 ppm was effective at preventing Foc from being recovered from the soil.

So what does this all mean?

These lab trials show the current methods for dealing with infected plants using urea (1 kg per square metre) would significantly help in reducing the amount of inoculum in infested banana paddocks. The trials further show that ammonia, rather than other gasses produced during the breakdown of urea, is likely to be responsible for the toxic effect on the fungus.

For more information about this work contact our better bananas team on 13 25 23 or email: betterbananas@daf.qld.gov.au

This trial was funded as part the Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4 – Biosecurity and Sustainable Practices (BA14013) project, which was funded by Hort Innovation, using the banana research and development levy, co-investment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

Reducing inoculum from plants infected with Panama disease

Posted on 2018-02-22 by Better Bananas

Reducing inoculum from plants infected with Panama disease

A key aspect of managing Panama disease tropical race 4 on an infested property, is the implementation of practices to reduce the amount of inoculum (number of spores) entering the soil. The management of infected plants via a careful and thorough destruction protocol is one of the most crucial of these practices.

The current method requires infected plants to be cut up and placed into large plastic bags with 1 kg of urea to accelerate the breakdown of the fungus and plant tissue. Urea is then evenly applied to the soil surface at a rate of 1 kg per square metre around the infected stools, and 200 g of urea is also applied to each gouged corm. The entire treated area is then covered with heavy plastic to prevent runoff and to contain the breakdown gasses which help kill the fungus.

Lab and field trials conducted to validate this method, have showed the application of urea at this rate can significantly reduce inoculum levels.

See below for details of the lab and field trials:

Due to strict biosecurity conditions this research has been conducted using Panama disease race 1 as a surrogate for Panama disease tropical race 4.

Please note...

Due to the extremely high rates of urea used for this technique, the strategy is ONLY utilised to treat confirmed detections of Panama disease on properties where a Notice of presence of Panama disease tropical race 4 is in effect.

Best management practices

Posted on 2018-02-15 by Better Bananas

Two complementary guidelines for best management practices (BMP) are now available to the Australian banana industry. These BMPs provide national guidelines to encourage continuous improvement and adoption of best practice in the banana industry. Both BMPs consist of a self-assessment checklist and corresponding information resources.

Best management practices: Environmental guidelines

This guide reflects the structure of the Freshcare Environmental code of practice, while providing specific banana industry content and best practice. The voluntary guideline provides a single point of reference for information relevant to environmental practices. Some of the practices have benefits that go beyond environmental interests and are practices that could potentially improve productivity and profitability.

The online system for this BMP allows you to electronically select the environmental practices that you have in place which will then:

automatically generate a management plan (which can be used for some environmental auditing systems).
allow you to action this management plan (e.g. assign budget and responsibilities to improve practices).
allow you to anonymously compare your practices to moving industry benchmarks.

Login or download...

Did you know...

The banana industry’s ‘Better Bunch’ app is a time-saving device to assist growers to record their everyday farm practices to complement their BMP. If you complete your BMP on-line, you are currently able to access the app for free.

Best management practices: On-farm biosecurity

The Australian banana industry is vulnerable to pests and diseases. This best management practice (BMP) guideline can help growers implement effective on-farm biosecurity practices. It was developed following the detection of Panama disease tropical race 4 in Far North Queensland in 2015. It includes examples of on-farm biosecurity practices that are not only relevant to Panama disease but also minimises the risk of introducing other new pests, diseases and weeds onto your property.

The online system for this BMP allows you to electronically select the biosecurity practices that you have in place which will then:

automatically generate a management plan.
allow you to action this management plan (e.g. assign budget and responsibilities to improve practices).
allow you to anonymously compare your practices to moving industry benchmarks.

Login or download…

For more information on these BMP guidelines contact the better bananas team – betterbananas@daf.qld.gov.au or 13 25 23.

BMP: Environmental guidelines – The project was funded as part of Reefocus Extension, a Queensland Government Reef Plan initiative, working with growers to increase farm productivity and profitability and improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef. This project was funded as part of the Developing a best management practices guideline for the Australian banana industry project (BA11006). This project was funded by Hort Innovation using the banana research and development levy, co-investment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and contributions from the Australian Government.

BMP: On-farm biosecurity –This resource was developed as part of the Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4 – Biosecurity and Sustainable Solutions project (BA14013). This project was funded by Hort Innovation, using the banana research and development levy, with co-investment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and funds from the Australian Government.