Recent advances in the control of crown rot of banana in the Windward Islands

This review gives an account of control approaches used against the crown r ot disease complex of banana in the Windward Islands during the past 20 yr. Fungicide-impregnated pads which were unique to the islands and offered ad vantages to the smallholder production system were replaced by a mini wet-p ack in which bananas are dip-treated in a fungicide suspension, a procedure which was less error-prone. Neither method effected consistent disease con trol and was acceptable in terms of worker safety and environmental protect ion. Several regional R&D activities towards improved and environmentally f riendly crown rot control are presented. They include cultural methods, phy sical methods: mode of fungicide application, natural chemicals as alternat ives to synthetic fungicides and biological control. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd, All rights reserved.