Abstract:
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) bacterial wilt (EBW), caused by Xanthomonas
campestris pv. musacearum, is one of the highly destructive diseases of enset in
Ethiopia. Field survey was conducted to determine the distribution of EBW and its
association with biophysical variables in Southwestern Ethiopia. In the survey, 120
enset fields in 10 major enset growing districts were assessed. The mean disease
Spatial Distribution of Enset Bacterial Wilt [34]
incidence across districts ranged from 23.67 to 31.92%, and significantly different
levels of disease severity were recorded among districts. Thus, among districts, the
highest mean disease severity of 62.50% was recorded from Semen-bench, whereas
Andiracha district showed the lowest (49.58%) mean severity. Logistic regression
analysis indicated that EBW incidence of >25% had high probability of association
with enset grown on soils with pH of 5.5-7, sole cropped, susceptible clones, using
planting materials obtained from other farmers and enset fields with no weeding and
EBW management practices. EBW severity of >55% had high probability of
association with growing enset in Semen-bench and Yeki districts, weed management
through machete slashing, growing local susceptible enset clones, vegetative to
maturity growth stages, and low to medium levels of farmer’s awareness about EBW.
Findings of this survey indicate that EBW is widely distributed and could be
minimized through growing enset preferably on soils out of pH 5.5-7 ranges,
intercropping system, proper weeding, access to disease-free planting material,
disinfecting farm tools before using, rouging out and burning of infected plants,
accessing of advisory services, and limiting free exchange of planting material
among enset growe
