MustGrow is collaborating to bring its uniquely effective technologies to help address the global Fusarium wilt TR4 fungal disease in banana issue.
Canada based MustGrow Biologics Corp. announced that the company has accepted membership into the Global Alliance Against TR4 (https://iica.int/en/global-alliance), an international consortium of world-leading banana players committed to defeat Fusarium wilt TR4 (“TR4”), a fungal disease jeopardising the future of bananas. MustGrow is collaborating to bring its uniquely effective technologies to help address this global issue, joining international banana leaders, including Bayer, Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, and Fyffes.
“I celebrate the willingness of MustGrow to join forces in this endeavor to put an end to this hazard and contribute in this manner to the food security and the economy of several families involved in the banana value chain,” Gabriel Rodríguez Marqués, IICA Representative in Paraguay Executive Secretariat of the Global Alliance Against TR4.
The deadly disease pathogen TR4 has been wreaking havoc and ravaging the $25 billion global banana industry – with infected plantations experiencing 100 per cent loss and being quarantined for decades. A flurry of apocalyptic media accounts is revealing a race to save bananas from extinction after the disease has left a trail of scorched banana plantations in its wake.
MustGrow vs. TR4
Under commercial partnership with Bayer, Bayer has the option to continue to build on MustGrow’s work in treating TR4. MustGrow’s approach harnesses the natural defense mechanism of the mustard plant to develop organic, safe, and effective biofungicides and biopesticides to treat a variety of pests, fungus, and disease, including TR4.
MustGrow’s previously disclosed work has demonstrated 100 per cent control of TR4 in a laboratory setting of five different plate samples at five different application rates. All 25 plates showed 100% disease control utilizing MustGrow’s biofungicide technology after a five-day period. In field trial settings, application of MustGrow’s biofungicide demonstrated positive dose response with reduced incidence and severity of TR4 symptoms in banana plants after 21 days. Importantly, even at higher application rates there was no damage or phytotoxic effects to the banana plants, allowing MustGrow to explore treating the banana plants directly, in addition to soil applications.
Sustainable innovations and green technologies are necessary to ensure agricultural production continues to address food safety and security as well as soil health. MustGrow’s rapidly developing solutions are focused on sustainable, safe, and effective, organic plant-based crop protection solutions that harness the mustard seed’s natural defense mechanism to treat diseases, pests and weeds. MustGrow’s technology has shown consistent efficacy in multiple global regions, in multiple crops, in multiple applications, over multiple years. The commercial development collaboration between Bayer and MustGrow demonstrates the importance of innovation in sustainable technologies in agricultural regions around the world.
