ABGC destroys TR4 affected banana plants
On Saturday, an ABGC field officer and his assistant destroyed a total of 210 plants on a 10-hectare section of the farm including the 10 plants that had tested positive for TR4 plus another 200 surrounding plants. The plant destruction was supervised by BQ inspectors.
The ABGC said the destruction of the plants was an important step in containing the banana plant fungus.
ABGC Chairman Doug Phillips thanked the grower from the affected farm for his continuing assistance with the response to the TR4 confirmation. On Friday evening, the grower was provided with an order by BQ for the plants’ destruction and he immediately accepted an ABGC offer to carry out the destruction on his behalf.
“The destruction of the TR4-affected banana plants and the surrounding plants is important step in containing this plant disease,” Mr Phillips said.
The ABGC has welcomed news from Biosecurity Queensland that test results completed on plant samples have so far shown no TR4 has been found on other North Queensland banana farms.
Mr Phillips said the announcement that no TR4-positive test results had been identified from plant samples collected from other North Queensland banana farms was good news for the industry.
For more information:
Rhyll Cronin
ABGC
Tel:+61 07 3278 4786
Email: Rhyll@abgc.org.au
www.abgc.org.au