According to scientists who visited Laos last October, TR4 may have been introduced in the country through infected nursery plants. As reported in The Laotian Times, the scientists spent 3 days surveying plantations of Cavendish plantations along the Vientiane-Vang Vieng road axis. A 45-hectare field established in 2014 for export to China had lost half of its production area due to a severe outbreak of TR4. Chinese managers told the scientists that the disease had appeared soon after planting tissue-culture plants imported from China, where TR4 is present. The scientists suspect that the initial outbreak was due to infected nursery plants imported from China. The presence of TR4 in Laos also threatens the susceptible varieties grown by smallholder farmers and sold in local markets.
