Item Details

Title: The changing spread dynamics of banana Xanthomonas wilt
(BXW) in Uganda

Date Published: 2012
Author/s: J. Kubiriba, F. Bagamba, E. Rockfeller and W.K. Tushemereirwe
Data publication:
Funding Agency :
Copyright/patents/trade marks: National Agricultural Research Organisation
Journal Publisher: Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Affiliation: National Agricultural Laboratories Research Institute, P. O. Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda
Keywords: Banana Xanthomonas wilt, control, incidence, prevalence, stakeholder mobilisation

Abstract:

Banana Xanthomonas wilt still remains a serious threat to banana production in Uganda. Although
the desired long term control strategy would have been use of resistance, no sources of resistance
have been found. Further the transgenic resistance under development will only be deployed in
the long run. In the meantime, cultural control, remains the driver of BXW management strategy
in Uganda. This requires continuous effort by the farmers and other stakeholders. It is imperative
that disease spread information be continuously updated to sustainably control BXW. The study
was conducted to update the status of BXWto inform the continuous refinement of the control
strategy of BXW control in across all the epidemics zones in Uganda. BXW incidence increased
from about 1% between 2005 and 2006 to about 3.8% in 2010 in the threatened areas. The BXW
prevalence increased from below 5 to 34.4% in the same period. Meanwhile, the incidence and
prevalence of BXW in the endemic areas reduced to below 10% and about 40%, respectively, from
over 50% between 2006 and 2010. The high prevalence of BXW indicates that BXW is widely
spread but the low incidence shows that BXW is at initial linear phases of disease epidemic across
all zones. There are also a few clusters of infection with infected fields at various phases of the
disease progress curve. This suggests that it is no longer feasible to classify Uganda’s banana
growing areas in different epidemic zones. Consequently the strategies to control BXW across
the zone are similar.