Evaluation of Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) Clone Suckers to Bacterial Wilt Disease Pathogen under Greenhouse Condition

Abstract

Enset is an important food crop produced in Ethiopia with great role in food security especially for southern and south western parts of the country. The demand of the crop is increasing throughout the country. However, the production as the whole is decreasing due to devastation by enset bacterial wilt. Cultural practice, use of clean planting materials and resistant varieties/clones utilization are methods of the disease management techniques. Screening of varieties against the pathogen at open field level was conducted by different investigators with controversial outputs has been conducted for the last five decades. Artificial inoculation of healthy three month suckers of three clones (Arkiya, Digomerza and Mazia) by known source hagereselam strain  inoculum  was conducted to evaluate different clones resistance against the pathogen at sucker level under green house condition. The pathogen clone interaction response data was collected in seven days interval after infection for six weeks and the result showed that there was difference for disease symptom development up to four weeks (28 days) in which 100% of Arkiya suckers were diseased while 75% of Digomerza and 33% of Mazia clones have shown the disease symptom. Later after five weeks of inoculation suckers of all the three clones were diseased similarly with little severity difference that 100% of Arkiya and Digomerza suckers were highly diseased and some were died where as 80% of Mazia suckers were diseased.

Keywords: Enset, Clone, sucker, Xanthomonas, inoculum