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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYes! We have no bananas? It could actually happen
Banana lovers take note: The world's supply of the fruit is under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out the popular variety that Americans eat.
"It's a very serious situation," said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.
"There's nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading," he said in an interview with CNBC.
While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the fruit's global cropand the one Americans mostly find in their supermarkets.
"It's a very serious situation," said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.
"There's nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading," he said in an interview with CNBC.
While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the fruit's global cropand the one Americans mostly find in their supermarkets.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101585189
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Yes! We have no bananas? It could actually happen (Original Post)
FarCenter
Apr 2014
OP
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)1. So um you're saying..
that my desire for banana pudding is in jeopardy?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)2. The Cavendish variety replaced the Gros Michel
which met a similar fate several decades ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel#Description
The 1923 musical hit "Yes, We Have No Bananas" is said to have been inspired by a shortage of the "Big Mike" bananas, which began with the infestation of Panama disease early in the 20th century.
By 1960, the major importers of Gros Michel bananas were nearly bankrupt, and had waited to deal with the financial and environmental crisis. The Cavendish was cultivated so consumers would still be able to obtain bananas.
The international name of this banana variety is Gros Michel (Musa acuminata AAA). This variety was once the dominant export banana to Europe and North America, grown in South America and Africa. In the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, wiped out vast tracts of Gros Michel plantations in South America and Africa, but the cultivar survived in Thailand.
After the banana catastrophe, South American and African plantations switched to the resistant Cavendish banana subgroup (another Musa acuminata AAA). The clone Dwarf Cavendish, todays food banana in the west, has a different flavour, a different morphology (Gros Michel is slimmer), and unlike Gros Michel, they do not turn fully yellow in tropical lowlands. A Gros Michel can reach 7 m tall, while a Dwarf Cavendish only reaches about 2 m. A Malaysian variety within the Cavendish subgroup sometimes found in Thailand is Gluay hom kiao.
By 1960, the major importers of Gros Michel bananas were nearly bankrupt, and had waited to deal with the financial and environmental crisis. The Cavendish was cultivated so consumers would still be able to obtain bananas.
The international name of this banana variety is Gros Michel (Musa acuminata AAA). This variety was once the dominant export banana to Europe and North America, grown in South America and Africa. In the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, wiped out vast tracts of Gros Michel plantations in South America and Africa, but the cultivar survived in Thailand.
After the banana catastrophe, South American and African plantations switched to the resistant Cavendish banana subgroup (another Musa acuminata AAA). The clone Dwarf Cavendish, todays food banana in the west, has a different flavour, a different morphology (Gros Michel is slimmer), and unlike Gros Michel, they do not turn fully yellow in tropical lowlands. A Gros Michel can reach 7 m tall, while a Dwarf Cavendish only reaches about 2 m. A Malaysian variety within the Cavendish subgroup sometimes found in Thailand is Gluay hom kiao.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)3. Cultivated bananas are seedless, and propagated by cloning, so there is little genetic variety
If one Cavendish plant is susceptible, all are.
Response to FarCenter (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
SamKnause
(13,110 posts)5. That would upset my bunnies, Lynyrd and Skynyrd.
Bananas are their favorite food.