Australasian Plant Pathology (2006) 35, 181-193

J. Henderson, J.A. Pattemore, S.C. Porchun, H.L. Hayden, S. Van Brunschot, K.R.E. Grice, R.A. Peterson, S.R. Thomas-Hall and E.A.B. Aitken (2006)
Black Sigatoka disease: new technologies to strengthen eradication strategies in Australia
Australasian Plant Pathology 35 (2), 181-193
Abstract: In 2001, an incursion of Mycosphaerella fijiensis, the causal agent of black Sigatoka, was detected in Australia's largest commercial banana growing region, the Tully Banana Production Area in North Queensland. An intensive surveillance and eradication campaign was undertaken which resulted in the reinstatement of the disease-free status for black Sigatoka in 2005. This was the first time black Sigatoka had ever been eradicated from commercial plantations. The success of the eradication campaign was testament to good working relationships between scientists, growers, crop monitors, quarantine regulatory bodies and industry. A key contributing factor to the success was the deployment of a PCR-based molecular diagnostic assay, developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Plant Protection (CRCTPP). This assay complemented morphological identification and allowed high throughput diagnosis of samples facilitating rapid decision-making during the eradication campaign. This paper describes the development and successful deployment of molecular diagnostics for black Sigatoka. Shortcomings in the gel-based assay are discussed and the advantages of highly specific real-time PCR assays, capable of differentiating between Mycosphaerella fijiensis, Mycosphaerella musicola and Mycosphaerella eumusae are outlined. Real-time assays may provide a powerful diagnostic tool for applications in surveillance, disease forecasting and resistance testing for Sigatoka leaf spot diseases.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Juliane Henderson, Sharon L. van Brunschot, Kathy Grice, Helen L. Hayden

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pseudocercospora fijiensis	Banana/plantain (Musa)	Australia (NT+QLD)	Yes