Enzyme testing for bananas

To prevent widespread of Panama disease among banana plantations, early detection on growing banana through enzyme testing is recommended, a laboratory representative said.

Ansaldo Agricultural Ventures Incorporated administration staff Daryl John Ogdol said through Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test, early detection of possible diseases can already be seen while the bananas are not yet planted.

“Sa amin para ma-ensure rin na maganda ang seedlings gumagawa rin kami ng ELISA. Kung saan tinitest yung source naming kung disease-free ba siya o hindi before mabenta sa mga farmers (For us to ensure that the seedlings are good, we also conduct ELISA test. This is where we test our source if it is disease-free or not),” Ogdol said in an interview during the Banana Congress Exposition at SMX, SM Lanang, Davao City.

Ogdol added they conduct the ELISA test in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Ansaldo laboratories produce around 800,000 meristems of banana plants in a year and exports at around 40,000 in a month to Vietnam, as one of their major markets. Presently, they are eyeing to have Laos as part of the roster of their export market.

“Yung advantage rin kase sa pagkuha mula sa mga banana tissue cultured laboratories compared sa conventional na pagtanim ay mas shorter ang process ng planting to harvest (The advantage of getting from banana tissue cultured laboratories compared from conventional planting is that the process from planting to harvest becomes shorter),” Ogdol said.