As tension continues in the Australian banana industry about the threat of Panama Disease Tropical Race 4 (TR4), sourcing clean plant material is more vital than ever. 

In a release last week, the Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC) said it backed the ongoing use of registered tissue culture nurseries as part of expected biosecurity obligation.

ABGC Research and Development Manager, Dr. Rosie Godwin said using clean banana planting material was a fundamental component of good biosecurity practice.

“It’s really important to remind people that we need to continue to put biosecurity first in our production planning,”  Godwin said.

“I highly recommend that growers source banana planting material that has been produced under a clean planting scheme or an equivalent measure,” she said.

“The best protection against moving and spreading serious diseases onto, or off your farms, is to use banana planting material produced from disease indexed tissue culture, and available from production nurseries (including tissue culture laboratories) accredited under an approved certification program.”

Godwin said the use of bits and suckers sourced from other growers was not recommended and was a high biosecurity risk.

“This sort of practice increases the risk of pests and diseases spreading from property to property.”

“Certainly the use of tissue culture is our preference in terms of ongoing biosecurity-conscious management.”

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