Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds

Banana Deightoniella leaf & fruit spot (309)

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Photo 1. Spots of Deightoniella leaf spot, Deightoniella torulosa.

Summary

  • Worldwide distribution. On banana and relatives. Minor fungal disease.
  • Oval, tan spots with black border, usually on older leaves. On the fruit, sunken dark brown or black spots, 2-4 mm wide, surrounded by dark green halo. Spores not produced on the fruit.
  • Spread by airborne spores from dead leaves during rains.
  • Cultural control: remove dead leaves from plantation every 14-28 days; desucker plants to aid air movement and drying of leaves; promote healthy growth with fertiliser and/or manures; mulch, but not with old banana leaves.
  • Chemical control: unlikely to be needed.

Common Name

Banana Deightoniella leaf & fruit spot, banana leaf blotch.

Scientific Name

Deightoniella torulosa. Previously known as Brachysporium torulosum.

AUTHORS Grahame Jackson & Eric McKenzie 
Information from Diseases of fruit crops in Australia (2009). Editors, Tony Cooke, et al. CSIRO Publishing; and (including Photo 1) McKenzie E (2013) Deightoniella torulosa: PaDIL - http://www.padil.gov.au; and from Meredith DS (1961) Fruit-spot (‘speckle’) of Jamaican bananas caused by Deightoniella torulosa (Syd.) Ellis: I. Symptoms of disease and studies on pathogenicity. Transaction of the British Mycological Society 44: 95-104. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007153661800120).

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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