Screening Banana germplasm against Fusarium wilt

Studies made on 189 cultivars which were maintained in infested soil for incidence of Fusarial wilt. Preliminary observations recorded on amount of vascular damage indicated that 36.5 per cent cultivars were resistant in field conditions, and 63.5 per cent were susceptible. Disease incidence varied with the genomic groups, i.e., AA, AB, AAA, ABB and unclassified group. In general, all the groups had high percentage of susceptible cultivars than the resistant cultivars. This also indicates presence of more than one race of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense in the soil which needs further investigations.