Research project

The goal of my research project is to establish methods to identify plant pathogens. Ecuador is a small country in latin america, but has different natural areas with a high biodiversity. There are the Andean highlands, there is a coastal region, there is the rainforest and there are the Galapagos islands infamous for the unique biodiversity. In all regions the farmers struggle with plant pathogens. The banana production requires the usage of high amounts of fungicides to kill the fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis and more and more fungicides are required to fight the fungus since it is developing more and more resistance to the fungicides. Another thread for the banana production is the fungus Fusarium oxysporum which some decades ago destroyed the whole banana production. It was then necessary to introduce a new banana variety (Cavendish), which is resistant to the Fusarium strain. But there is the thread of new Fusarium strains, which develop resistance against fungicides.