Biological War Against FocTR4 in 'Cavendish' Banana

The author was amazed in the studies of rainforest endophytes of the Team of Dr. Garry Strobel of Montana State University. She was curious if she could do the same works and hoped that she could isolate a nobel endophyte from the rainforest plants of Mt. Apo Mindanao Philippines. And indeed she landed on exploring on her own the rainforest of Mt. Apo and was able to isolate thousands of endophytic microorganisms. She focused her research on the fungal endophytes alone and started working with 155 isolates. Since the author had previous works with FocTR4 in ''Cavendish Banana'' she tested the antagonistic ability of her isolates towards the Fusarium pathogen. She ended up with five potential fungal endophytes that showed efficacy in combating FocTR4. One highlight also of this research is the evaluation of TropRace TR1-4/ITS a complex mineral product that also showed promise for FocTR4 control.