SCREENING FOR RESISTANCE ON DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF ABABACA (Musa textilis) TO Fusarium

oxysporum f. sp. cubense TR4 UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS

Theresa Paula A. Dela Rosa

MS Crop Protection
University of Southeastern Philippines Tagum-Mabini Campus, Mabini Unit
Apokon Road, Tagum City, Davao Del Norte

RATIONALE

Abaca (Musa textilis) or Manila hemp is a high-quality natural fiber and an important industrial
crop (Worbs 2002 and Purwati 2007). Abaca is native in the Philippines (Bastasa and Baliad 2005) and is
one of the largest producers of Abaca fibers supplying about 87.17% of the worlds production followed
by Ecuador and Costa Rica with 12.77% and 0.06% respectively (PhilFIDA 2015). It is mainly used for
production of specialty papers (for currency note, stencil paper, teabag, coffee filter/cup, capacitor and
insulation paper, etc.), cordage, textiles, furniture and fixtures, handicrafts, novelty items, meat casing,
cosmetics and skin care products, grocery bags, composites for automotive and construction and other
industrial applications.

Presently, the country’s output of abaca from January to May 2018 grew 1.4 percent to 26,509.19
metric tons, from 26,149 MT last year, owing to higher production by Mindanao regions while all other
regions outside Mindanao posted a decline from their year ago levels (PhilFIDA 2018).

Although the abaca industry has been showing progress, it is still far from achieving its optimum
production. Still, the crop has very low productivity due to limited access to agricultural advisory services,
farmers traditional practices and pest and diseases outbreaks. The occurrence of serious diseases such as
bunchy-top, bacterial wilt and Fusarium wilt have been considered economically important diseases of
abaca (Bastasa and Baliad 2005).

Fusarium wilt of abaca seriously infected major abaca growing municipalities particularly in Leyte
with 5-65% disease severity (Borines & Baliad 1996). The fusarium wilt is also a major problem of
cavendish banana which resulted to major loses for export bananas. Now, this disease that has caused
havoc to the banana industry is also posing a major threat to the abaca production.

This study will be conducted to evaluate the resistance of different varieties of abaca against Fusarium
oxysporum f. sp. cubense TR4 under field conditions and evaluate the responses of the different varieties
against the Foc infection.

The set up will be laid out in a completely randomized block design (CRBD) situated in the
University of Southeastern Philippines Tagum-Mabini Campus, Mabini Unit, Mabini, Compostela Valley on
August to December 2020.