Morphocultural and Genetic Characterization of Putative Fusarium Isolates from Lakatan Plantations of Maitum, Sarangani Province

Lakatan banana (Musa paradisiaca) is among the major banana variety cultivated in Maitum, Sarangani Province. This variety is highly vulnerable to Fusarium Wilt, a destructive disease that has inflicted considerable damage on Lakatan plantations in Mindanao. In this study, suspected cases of Fusarium infection in selected 3 Barangays of Maitum were studied. The fungal pathogen was isolated from suspected Foc-infected Lakatan plants and characterized culturally, morphologically, and molecularly. A geographic map showing confirmed and putative cases of Fusarium Wilt in the area was generated. In this study, six (6) fungal colonies were obtained from the 3 Barangays in Maitum namely Barangay Sison, Barangay Kiambing, and Barangay Mindupok displaying cultural and morphological similarities to the reference Fusarium oxysporum culture. Blast analysis and subsequent molecular investigation of the 2 presentative putative Foc isolates revealed the 2 fungal isolates, 3R33N and 1R2SM2 exhibited significant sequence similarity with known Fusarium strains originating from China and Indonesia at 99.60% and 99.80% identity, respectively.