Internal symptoms

Very typical in rhizome and pseudostem. Internally, a deep golden discolouration of the inner rhizome develops, while the vascular bundles in the pseudostem will turn yellow to reddish-brown.

Other banana wilt diseases

Bacterial diseases: External symptoms of Moko disease, blood disease and Xanthomonas wilt are often similar to that of Panama disease. However, leaf yellowing in these diseases often start with the youngest to the older leaves, which is different to the progression of plants affected by Foc. Also, a yellow ooze is exuded in plant tissue affected by bacteria.

Pythium root rot and Armillaria rot can also display symptoms similar to Fusarium wilt. Pythium root rot is uncommon and limited to young plants in wet environments, whereas Armillaria root rot is often localised to a few plants, and shows white fungal tissue in affected plant material.