Panama disease Panama disease Panama disease is a plant disease of the roots of banana plants. It is a type of fusarium wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen "Fusarium oxysporum" f. sp." cubense" (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicide and cannot be controlled chemically. During the 1950s, Panama disease wiped out most commercial Gros Michel banana production. The Gros Michel banana was the dominant cultivar of bananas, and the blight inflicted enormous costs and forced producers to switch to other, disease-resistant cultivars. New strains of Panama disease currently threaten the production of today's most popular cultivar, Cavendish. Two external symptoms help
Sugarcane grassy shoot disease Sugarcane grassy shoot disease Sugarcane grassy shoot disease (SCGS), caused by small, parasitic bacteria, contributes to losses of 5% to 20% in the main crop of sugarcane, and these losses are higher in the ratoon crop. A higher incidence of SCGS has been recorded in some parts of Southeast Asia and India, resulting in 100% loss in cane yield and sugar production. Sugarcane is a vegetatively propagated crop, so the pathogen is transmitted via seed material and by phloem-feeding leafhopper vectors. "Saccharosydne saccharivora", "Matsumuratettix hiroglyphicus", "Deltocephalus vulgaris" and "Yamatotettix flavovittatus" have been confirmed as vectors for phytoplasma transmission in sugarcane.