Panama disease is a plant disease attacking the roots of the banana plants. It is a type of Fusarium wilt, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The disease is resistant to fungicide and cannot be controlled chemically.
In the 1950s, Panama disease wiped out the Gros Michel, the dominant cultivar of bananas, inflicting enormous costs and forcing producers to switch to other, disease-resistant cultivars. However, new strains of fusarium oxusporum threaten the production of today's most popular cultivar, Cavendish.
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