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
Crop scouting locate and tag crop issues, visualize them on an aerial map and make decisions for site-specific treatments. Before starting any actual scouting, preparation is essential to provide accurate information in an efficient manner. Crop scouting is a Integrated pest management strategy that looks at many different aspects of crop production, not just any single pest or problem. Scouts must be actively observing environmental conditions, beneficial insects, pest insects, diseases, weeds, crop growth stage, and the general health of the crop in question to get a complete picture of any problems. Since field and landscape characteristics affect pest distribution, symptom expression,