Completed project
Understanding the role of latency in banana bunchy top virus symptom expression (BA19002)
Publication date: March 2, 2020
Delivery Partner: The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
From 2020 to 2023, this investment helped the Australian banana industry to better understand how banana bunchy top virus spreads and reoccurs.
The control of banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is a significant investment for the banana industry. With the current control program, the disease has been maintained at a relatively low level in recent years in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales production areas, but with some difficult-to-control outbreaks.
A recent modelling study using highlighted some significant gaps in current knowledge of BBTV epidemiology that needed to be addressed to maximise the efficiency of the industry’s control program. Specifically, this project:
Key findings from the research included:
Filling these knowledge gaps will assist industry in maximising the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the bunchy top control program, which is implemented through inspection staff for the benefit of banana growers and biosecurity agencies.
This project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Banana Fund
© 2026 Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited.
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