Media contributions 2014/15

It is threatened by aggressive fungi and epidemics and could soon disappear from our supermarket shelves. Will a forgotten variety from the Sultanate of Oman, of all places, solve the fruit's problem?

An article about the importance of the Umq-Bi'r banana in:
DIE ZEIT - WISSEN
No. 48, 26.11.2015, p. 41-42.

See also: ProMusa "in pictures blog"
http://www.promusa.org/blogpost421-The-oasis-bananas-of-Oman

Dates and wheat have been grown in oases in the Oman desert for 3,000 years. We can learn from this culture - if it is not destroyed now.

An article about agroecosystem research in the departments
OPATS and AHTS (Prof. Dr. A. Bürkert and Prof. Dr. E. Schlecht) in:

DIE ZEIT  - WISSEN
No. 26, 25.06.2015, p.37-38

Times of Oman

Omani banana can boost global farming efforts

By SARAH MACDONALD    |    June 01, 2015 , 10 : 28 pm GST    

The threat of plant disease to banana was also the subject of some radio and press coverage in the summer of 2014:

27.08.2014: Plantations endangered worldwide - Fungus threatens bananas
SWRinfo - Das Digitalradio - Online article by Heidi Keller (SWR) based on the interview bySabine Gronau (SWR) with Alexandra zum Felde (OPATS)
www.swr.de/swrinfo/plantagen-weltweit-gefaehrdet-pilz-bedroht-bananen/-/id=7612/nid=7612/did=14060942/esq3hb/index.html

24.08.2014: Nothing Fruited - New Diseases Threaten Fruit Varieties Worldwide
Article by Roland Knauer in Welt am Sonntag:
'... Banana plantation owners are also currently alarmed. "They are also struggling with fungi," says Alexandra zum Felde of the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen. The black Sigatoka fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis , for example, first appeared in the 1960s on the Fiji Islands in the South Seas and has since reached all tropical countries with banana cultivation.'
>>> read full article

21.08.2014: The banana - power fruit with packaging
RadioWissen, Bayern2, ARD Mediathek:
Broadcast on the topic of bananas by Bettina Weiz (BR) with contributions by Alexandra zum Felde (OPATS)
22:43 Min
http://www.ardmediathek.de/radio/radioWissen-Bayern-2/Die-Banane-Powerfrucht-mit-Verpackung-/Bayern-2/Audio-Podcast?documentId=23054186&bcastId=5945518

21.08.2014: Fungus TR 4 destroys banana plantations worldwide
SWRinfo GLOBAL:
Interview by Sabine Gronau (SWR) with Alexandra zum Felde (OPATS)
9:36 Min (Total contribution: 24:27 Min)
swrmediathek.de/app-2/player/global-pilz-tr-4-vernichtet-bananenplantagen-weltweit/b9cc57a0-2940-11e4-81db-0026b975f2e6.html

Contribution from the interview with Sabine Gronau for the radio waves SWR 1 and SWR 4 in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg:
2:37 Min
SWRinfo_Bananenpilz.mp3

7.08.2014: Tropical Race 4 - The banana disease.
Deutschlandradio Wissen, DR Editorial Conference "Yellow in Danger":
Interview by Sven Preger (DRadio) with Alexandra zum Felde (OPATS).
7:10 minutes
dradiowissen.de/beitrag/tropical-race-4-der-pilz-tr4-vernichtet-cavendish-bananen

The tropical greenhouse in Witzenhausen is home to the Umq Bi'r banana. It was discovered by Prof. Dr. A. Bürkert in a mountain oasis in Oman and has unique defense mechanisms against banana pests, which are being researched in the department. 

12.02.2014:The last of its kind
Report in nano (ZDF/3Sat).
http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=38880

See also:
How oasis bananas defend themselves against their enemies
Bürkert, A. et al. 2010.
Biology in Our Time 40(5), 334-341.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/biuz.201010432/abstract

Contact:
Dr. Dirk Hölscher
Dr. Alexandra zum Felde
Prof. Dr. Andreas Bürkert