Establishment of Limit of Detection (LOD) of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (Foc TR4) in Banana Pseudostem and Water samples through Real-time PCR

Fusarium Wilt, also known as Panama disease, is a major threat to banana industries which is caused by a pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (Foc TR4). Molecular detection of Foc TR4 has been developed earlier using real-time PCR to reliably detect the pathogen on plants showing early symptoms and on water samples collected from surface river sources. However, the lowest DNA concentration of the fungus that can be consistently detected using the optimized laboratory procedure was not yet established. In this study, the limit of detection (LOD) of Foc TR4 in banana pseudostem and water samples was determined