Prevalence and Severity of Sigatoka Disease of Banana in Cameroon

Abstract

Sigatoka Disease (SD) represents the major pre-harvest fungal disease of banana and also appear as the major constraint of banana production. This diseaseis caused by two major pathogenic fungi, Pseudocercospora fijiensis and P. musicola. It provokes necrotic lesions on leaves and serious infestations leads to a substantial reduction in the green leaf area of infected plants and thus the photosynthetic area of the plant and consequently leads to yield loss. In the present work, three plantations were surveyed and experiments conducted in Southwest Cameroon to assess the prevalence and severity of sigatoaka disease in the banana plantations. Our results revealed a 100 % prevalence of Sigatoka in the field with an incidence of 59 %. In a severe manner, the severity in all the plantations was seen to have a constant increase with the highest severity at 23.83 % observed in plantation 1. In a nutshell, the incidence and severity of the disease was seen to increase with respect to time and season.