Original Research Article
Year: 2016 | Month: February | Volume: 3 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 53-55
Survey on Diseases of Banana and Their Management in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka
W. Shanika1, K. Prasannath2
1Lecturer, School of Agriculture, Kundasale, Sri Lanka.
2Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, Eastern University, Sri Lanka.
Corresponding Author: K. Prasannath
ABSTRACT
Banana is the most popular fruit among Sri Lankans. Banana is being widely cultivated by small farmers. One of the problems associated with banana cultivation is the number of diseases affecting the crop. A survey was conducted to investigate diseases affecting banana cultivation in Batticaloa district, Sri Lanka using a specific format of a questionnaire and field observations. This study was further aimed at assessing the damage level and control methods of diseases. A total of 100 farmers from four mostly banana cultivated locations of Batticaloa district namely; Pallacholai, Vantharumoolai, Eravur and Kaluthavalai were randomly selected (25 farmers from each location) and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The major diseases reported were banana streak virus disease, yellow sigatoka, panama wilt and banana bunchy top. Among these diseases, the most prevalent disease (64%) in banana cultivation in Batticaloa was banana streak virus disease. The highest disease incidence (34.6%) was also reported by the banana streak virus disease whereas bunchy top disease recorded the least incidence (2.6%). Forty four percent of the farmers responded diseases as the most important constraint to banana cultivation. Almost, 77% of the farmers used integrated chemical and cultural method of disease control. The inventory of the major common diseases of banana crop in Batticaloa district would be useful for preparing a disease management package for this locality.
Key words: Banana, diseases, disease incidence, disease control.