Breakthrough in mango disease research offers hope for Northern Territory growers

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Northern Territory mango growers have been battling a devastating disease, but a breakthrough in research could turn things around. Scientists are making progress in tackling mango twig tip dieback, offering hope that the region’s prized fruit will soon be free from the destructive threat.

Transcript

00:00Northern Territory farmer Marshall Heretis owns 1,400 mango trees on his property at

00:08Berry Springs.

00:09This would have been a branch full of foliage.

00:13In years past, his orchard produced 18,000 trays of fruit in an average season.

00:18That was before his farm, like many others in Darwin's rural area, became the victim

00:23of mango twig-tip dieback, a disease that doesn't impact fruit quality, but can drastically

00:28reduce yield.

00:29Last year it was 4,000 trays, the year before it was 7,500, two of those years we haven't

00:35been near the place even to pick because we've known that the fruits, it's not marketable.

00:42Until now, the cause has remained a mystery, leaving growers to improvise as they treat

00:46infected trees.

00:48We had water tanks on trucks and big fire hoses and wetting everything and it seemed

00:55to stop it in its tracks and you think, oh we've beaten it, but it'd come back stronger

01:02about two weeks later.

01:04But plant pathologists have finally had a breakthrough.

01:07Examining samples collected from across the Top End, researchers have now identified the

01:12fungi that cause mango twig-tip dieback.

01:15We've discovered a group of pathogens that are associated with initiating these disease

01:20symptoms.

01:21They are a very versatile group of pathogens that can take advantage of a plant's stress

01:26response.

01:27It's research the President of the Territory's Mango Industry Association says could have

01:32come sooner.

01:33Narrowing down the issue can take a while, but I don't think enough was done early enough

01:40to get to this stage.

01:42We should have been at this stage three or four years ago.

01:46The fungus responsible lies dormant in its host, only taking hold when the tree becomes

01:51stressed by environmental factors like extreme heat.

01:55And as average temperatures trend upwards, until more is understood about the disease,

02:00growers can only persevere in their pursuit for abundance of the Territory's favourite

02:04fruit.

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