Since then BXW has been diagnosed in Central and East Africa including banana growing regions of: Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda.
A cross section of the BXW infected banana is characterized by the yellow- orange discoloration of the vascular bundles and dark brown tissue scarring.
Infected plants show a progressive yellowing and wilting of the leaves, and uneven and premature ripening of the fruit.
Male bud symptoms are firstly observed if an infection has occurred via the male inflorescence part, while leaf wilting symptoms are the first to be observed if the infection occurred via other plant parts such as roots, corm, leaf sheaths and leaves.
Fusarium wilt also causes a dark staining in the stalk whereas BXW does not[citation needed] Soil is one of the main sources for Xanthomonas campestris pv.
BXW awareness campaigns have helped reduce the numbers of farmers growing bananas on contaminated plantains aiding in the control of the disease overall.
Complete uprooting of diseased mats and the burning or burying of plant debris was encouraged as part of a control package which included the use of clean garden tools and early removal of male buds to prevent insect vector transmission.
Recent research findings suggest that Xcm bacteria do not colonize all lateral shoots which can lead to a new control method where only visibly attacked plants within a mat are cut at soil level.
[citation needed] The CABI-led programme Plantwise recommends in addition to removing infected plants and cleaning tools, to prevent further infections by limiting the distribution of fruits to BXW-free areas to reduce the risk of spread, and limiting the movement of animals in banana plantations.
[15] Scientists have recently transferred two genes from sweet green pepper to bananas in order to confer resistance to BXW.
The two proteins induced a hypersensitive response and systemic acquired resistance within the banana plant after being exposed to the bacterial pathogen.
Text taken from Plantwise Factsheets for Farmers: Controlling bacterial wilt of enset using cultural methods, Melese Haile, Yifru Hailegiorgis, Leulseged Mekonen, CABI.