• An endemic bacterial disease in the State.
• Affected plants show discolouration and soft rotting of rhizomes and suckers.(Image1)
• They have scanty roots with dark brown lesions and necrotic tips.
• Badly affected plants remain stunted with water-soaked, discoloured leaf sheath bases and yellow leaf blades which give scorched appearance.(Image2)
• Pockets of dark water soaked areas and cavities develop in the rhizome.(Image3).
• Small sized fruits are produced which may fail to emerge from the shoot tip .
• Newly planted rhizomes rot and fail to sprout .
• On close examination, a soft blackened ring is seen on the pseudostem at the soil level.(Image4)
• The pseudostem tips over, breaking across the rotted portion, particularly at the ground level.(Image5).
• The entire roots get blackended and rotted.

Inspect the field at regular intervals and look for the symptom of bacterial diseases. Confirm by ooze test.

Mere presence

The pathogen is dessiminated in to the new infection sites by irrigation water or by insects. All the plants in the field are infected and the disease is likely to develop on produce in transit and in storage. The pathogen survives in the soil and enter the host through wounds and natural openings. The disease increases when the humidity is high , soils are moist and temperature above 250 C. The disease is more prevalent during wet season and in fields where excess nitrogen has been applied.

• Stringent plant quarantine and phytosanitary measures should be adopted to prevent the spread of the disease.
• Early detection and destruction of infected plants reduce primary inoculum. Weedicides like 2, 4- D can be used for this purpose.
• Suckers for planting should be selected only from healthy plants/gardens.
• Before planting treat the suckers with 0.4 % Copper oxy chloride for 30 minutes
• Collateral hosts of the pathogen like Heliconia, Solanaceous plants etc. should be removed and destroyed in the endemic area.
• Provide good drainage
• Place bleeching powder @ 10 g per plant in small cloth bags at the base of plants
• Disinfect water in channels by placing bleaching powder @ 5 kg /ha
• Drench base of the plant with copper oxy chloride @ 4 g/l with the help of rocker sprayer after removing the swirl block from the nozzle. Depending up on the age of the plant 0.75- 1.5 l may be required using this method of application.. Drenching should be done for all the plants immediately after detecting the disease in any one of the plants in the field.
• Male flower buds should be removed to avoid infection by insect transmission.
• Tools used should be disinfected.
• Use of tissue cultured plants raised form disease free source help in decreasing the disease spread.
• A tetraploid hybrid FHIA (Musa AABB) has been reported to have high field resistance. The commercial varieties Monthan and Poovan are less susceptible.