Research Projects

Panama wilt Foc poses a significant threat to the global banana industry, as it can devastate plantations. Banana is commercially propagated through tissue culture techniques, which eliminates beneficial endophytic microbiome and may alter their fitness. Artificial reintroduction of beneficial microorganisms into the rooting medium can offer protection to young plants and extend the life of planting material. Bacterial consortia application to plantlets under in vitro conditions establishes endophytic associations without the need for re-inoculation. Research has shown that endophytes from wild resistant banana cultivars, such as Yengambi KM5 (YKM5 - AAA), can induce the plant's innate immune response against Fusarium wilt. B. velezensis YEBBR6 inhibited mycelial growth up to 63% and hyper-parasitized the mycelium of Foc. Biohardening of micropropagated banana cv. Karpooravalli with a liquid formulation of B. velezensis YEBBR6 and challenge inoculation with Foc promoted plant growth compared to uninoculated control. This proposed research program aims to isolate bacterial endophytes from other resistant wild genotypes in the banana germplasm at the Department of Fruit science, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and test them against Fusarium wilt. The elucidation and utilization of in planta resistance of specific genotypes, particularly Fusarium wilt, can be a possible strategy to manage vascular disease incited by various Fusarium races. The study aims to unlock the compositional diversity and distribution of the microbiome in both resistant and susceptible banana genotypes against Foc.