Banana bunchy top: An economically important tropical plant virus disease

Abstract

This chapter explores the possible reasons for the negligence of banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), the way in which it has been controlled in Australia, and the possible directions for future research that could reduce the often devastating effects of the disease. The economic effects of the disease were as dramatic as its spread. In New South Wales, practically no plantation was free of BBTV in the Tweed and Brunswick areas. Most attempts to control or eradicate banana bunchy top virus have been made in commercial banana-producing countries. In Australia, a control program has successfully contained the disease at a very low level in southeast Queensland and the north coast of New South Wales for about 50 years. However, the disease still requires continual monitoring. The basis for control came from the discovery that (1) banana bunchy top was caused by a virus, (2) this virus was transmitted by the aphid, P. nigronervosa, (3) the virus could be disseminated in infected vegetative planting material, and (4) there were no known non-musaceous alternate hosts. For the campaign to be successful, little more information about the virus was required and in the ensuing 60 years little more has been discovered. Most research has been confined to verification of the identity of the disease in particular areas, varietal reactions to infection, some epidemiology and more recently isolation of the dsRNAs associated with infection.