Team bets on new technique to eliminate banana disease Details Alert sent: No Sites: PH Publish date: Wed 2013-Sep-18 Author: Channel: Pests/diseases Text (summary): A viral disease has reduced banana yield by up to 60 per cent, say researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology who have come up with a technique to eliminate the attack. A team from the university’s bitechnology research centre says it can be eliminated using acidic chemicals. Grace Wacheke Mungai, a biotechnologist at the institute, last week said that she settled on three cleaning methods but chemotherapy is the best. The other two are thermotherapy and meristem tip culture. Chemotherapy, she said, can reduce the disease by up to 90 per cent, adding that the researchers realised that issue culture technique — a popular production method — does not eliminate the virus. Ms Mungai said the banana streak virus (BSV) affects all types. “We use issue culture materials, but first check whether there is virus; if it is there, we eliminate it using the three techniques.” She collected samples from Thika, Kisii and Juja to find out whether tissue culture bananas had BSV and the possibility of elimination. Read more: www.businessdailyafrica.com [English Locations Location Coordinates Zoom Relevance Show on map Kenya 1°N 38°E 0.549 Juja, Kenya 1.18333°S 37.1167°E 0.462 Discovery Discoveries: Discovery method: Robot discovered URL: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Team+bets+on+new+technique+to+eliminate+banana+dis… Original language: English Original title: Team bets on new technique to eliminate banana disease Original text (summary): A viral disease has reduced banana yield by up to 60 per cent, say researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology who have come up with a technique to eliminate the attack. A team from the university’s bitechnology research centre says it can be eliminated using acidic chemicals. Grace Wacheke Mungai, a biotechnologist at the institute, last week said that she settled on three cleaning methods but chemotherapy is the best. The other two are thermotherapy and meristem tip culture. Chemotherapy, she said, can reduce the disease by up to 90 per cent, adding that the researchers realised that issue culture technique — a popular production method — does not eliminate the virus. Ms Mungai said the banana streak virus (BSV) affects all types. “We use issue culture materials, but first check whether there is virus; if it is there, we eliminate it using the three techniques.” She collected samples from Thika, Kisii and Juja to find out whether tissue culture bananas had BSV and the possibility of elimination.
