Received: 03-02-2020 / Accepted: 21-05-2020
Vietnam, located in the center of origin for banana (Musaspp.), has abundant banana genetic diversity. Panama disease or Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporumf.sp cubense(Foc), is listed as a major disease constraint for stable production of ‘Pisang Awak’ banana nationwide. Until 2013, there were no reports on Foccausing Fusarium wilt disease in ‘Cavendish’ (group AAA) in Vietnam. However, leaf-yellowing symptoms, typical of banana fusarium wilt, were observed on ‘Cavendish’ in the northern part of Vietnam in 2014.The objectiveof this study was to identifyracesof Foccollected from ‘Cavendish’ and ‘Pisang Awak’ in the major banana production areas including Red River Delta, upper mountainous provinces in Northern of Vietnam. Races of Focwere indentified based on morphology, molecular characterization and their pathogenicity. The results of this study showed that Foc tropical race 4 (FocTR4) was found to be on ‘Cavendish’ cultivar, while Foc race 1 (Foc 1)was determined to be on ‘Pisang Awak’ cultivar. This study provides additional scientific information to controlFusariumwiltof banamamore effectively.