Panama disease leaves and progresses to younger leaves until the entire plant dies. Gros Michel was the only type of banana eaten in the United States from the late 19th century until after World War II. From the beginning, however, a serious disease was present in the banana plantations of Central America. The problem was first diagnosed in Panama after which it was named. Over several decades, the fungus spread from Panama to neighboring countries, moving north through Costa Rica to Guatemala and south into Colombia and Ecuador. The banana industry was in a serious crisis, so a new banana thought to
Cover crop et al. 2000). Species in the Brassicaceae family, such as mustards, have been widely shown to suppress fungal disease populations through the release of naturally occurring toxic chemicals during the degradation of glucosinolade compounds in their plant cell tissues (Lazzeri and Manici 2001). Some cover crops are used as so-called "trap crops", to attract pests away from the crop of value and toward what the pest sees as a more favorable habitat (Shelton and Badenes-Perez 2006). Trap crop areas can be established within crops, within farms, or within landscapes. In many cases the trap crop is grown during the same