Back F. Elango, P. Tabora and J. M. Vega
EARTH University, Las Mercedes, Guacimo, Costa Rica
Full Paper (PDF File: 72KB)
Abstract
The control of the black sigatoka fungus disease in bananas and plantains,
estimated to be at a cost of $200 million annually, has been widely related
to loss of bio-diversity, increased health hazards, and economic instability
of many banana producing countries. Thus, biological control for the disease
is deemed a wise alternative. A 0.6 ha area was established at the banana
farm of EARTH in Guacimo, Costa Rica, with EM in 1:100 ratio. Evaluations
on the leaves were done for 14 alternate weeks and ended four weeks before
harvest. The results showed that number of healthy leaves were 8.4 with
EM. The position of the YLS (youngest spotted leaf) was 7.4 with EM. The
number of diseased leaves was 2.2 for the treatment. The average infection
rating was 0.52 for EM. The results indicate that EM can sufficiently control
black sigatoka and maintain 8 to 9 leaves at about fruiting time. This
is comparable to results using the regular chemical control with 10 leaves.