Detection of Fusarium Wilt Occurrence in Selected Lakatan Banana Farms and Plantation in Banga, South Cotabato

Fusarium wilt is a significant threat not only to the global banana industry but also to the local banana industry of the country. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), known to be the most devastating strain of Fusarium infecting bananas worldwide, has been suspected of infecting the Lakatan plantations in South Cotabato. In this study, the occurrence of Fusarium in selected suspected Fusarium-infected Lakatan banana farms in Banga, South Cotabato was documented. The fungal pathogen infecting the Lakatan banana plants was isolated, characterized culturally and morphologically, and compared with reference Fusarium strains. The identified putative Fusarium isolates based on morpho-cultural characteristics were then geotagged to generate a map reflecting the distribution of Fusarium disease in the area. Molecular analysis of the DNA extracts from the putative Fusarium isolates was done and phylogenetic analysis was performed to trace similarities of the isolated Fusarium with reported Fusarium species. The result of this study revealed four (4) out of eight (8) fungal isolates were identified as putative Fusarium species based on their cultural and morphological characteristic growth on Potato Dextrose Agar treated with tetracycline. However, further molecular and phylogenetic analysis revealed that two (2) of the fungal isolates were not Fusarium but Trichoderma species, namely Trichoderma amazonicum and Trichoderma chlamydosporum. The occurrence of Trichoderma species in the identified suspected Fusarium-infected Lakatan farms and plantations in Banga, South Cotabato suggests their potentiality as biocontrol agents against Fusarium species, highlighting further investigation on their antagonistic activity. Further purification of all fungal isolates and subsequent molecular analysis is recommended to confirm the inconclusive findings obtained in this study.