Spatiotemporal dynamics of inoculums of Sigatoka disease of banana at plot and plant scales. Session 2. Poster 17

Sigatoka disease (SD), caused by the fungal pathogen Mycosphaerella musicola, is a very destructive foliar disease of bananas controlled by frequent fungicide applications for export production. It is spread mainly by air (and water on leaf) with conidia and ascospores which the average dispersal distances was described, with a short horizontal dispersal (3 m) for conidia and a longer dispersal (230 m) for ascospores (Rieux et al, 2014). Few is known concerning inoculums dynamics. The understanding of primary and secondary inoculums dynamics at different spatial scales is not well known and essential to improve control practices (particularly based on removal of diseased leaves and cultivation of resistant varieties). Our aim was to better understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of the primary and secondary inoculums at plot and plant scales during several crop cycles.