Joseph Bancroft’s discovery of Fusarium Wilt of banana
Article
Ryley, Malcolm J. and Drenth, Andre. 2024. "Joseph Bancroft’s discovery of Fusarium Wilt of banana." Historical Records of Australian Science. 35 (2), pp. 158-169. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23012
Article Title | Joseph Bancroft’s discovery of Fusarium Wilt of banana |
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ERA Journal ID | 3482 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Ryley, Malcolm J. and Drenth, Andre |
Journal Title | Historical Records of Australian Science |
Journal Citation | 35 (2), pp. 158-169 |
Number of Pages | 12 |
Year | 2024 |
Publisher | CSIRO Publishing |
Place of Publication | Australia |
ISSN | 0727-3061 |
1448-5508 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23012 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.publish.csiro.au/HR/HR23012 |
Abstract | In the early decades of British settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788, the struggling colonials tried their hand at growing edible bananas but invariably failed. However, they grew extremely well in the Moreton Bay colony (Brisbane) and over time banana growing became an important agricultural industry there, particularly after the introduction of the Cavendish variety. All was progressing well until a new disease appeared in plantations around Brisbane in the early 1870s. The medical practitioner and naturalist Joseph Bancroft investigated the problem and concluded that a fungus was implicated as the causal agent. In the early 1900s, following serious outbreaks of a disease with similar symptoms in Caribbean countries (where it was called Panama Disease), the American bacteriologist Erwin Frink Smith studied the same disease in Cuba, and named the pathogen Fusarium cubense. Another American scientist, Elmer Walker Brandes, conclusively proved that Fusarium cubense (now called Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense) was the cause of the banana disease. Bancroft’s discovery of the disease now called Fusarium Wilt not only predates other reports of the disease in the Caribbean but also represents the first scientific investigation of a plant disease in Australia. |
Keywords | banana; Elmer Brandes; Erwin Frink Smith; Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubens; fusarium wilt; Joseph Bancroft; Musa; Henry Tryon |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 300499. Crop and pasture production not elsewhere classified |
Byline Affiliations | Centre for Crop Health |
University of Queensland |
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https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z9q27/joseph-bancroft-s-discovery-of-fusarium-wilt-of-banana
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