Ralstonia solanacearum Smith induces the Moko disease on banana, plantain and heliconia flowers. The objectives of this work were: I) to identify R. solanacearum hosts in weeds or cultivated hosts and II) to determine its pathogenicity on the susceptible host plantain cv. Dominico-Hartón. A survey in search of natural hosts of R. solanacearum race 2 was performed in selected Colombian regions. Sixty bacterial colonies showing R. solanacearum characteristics in a semi-selective medium were used in further pathogenicity tests in the susceptible plantain plants. Twenty six isolates induced Moko disease symptoms in plantain during the 60 days of evaluation. Twelve new hosts were found for R. solanacearum at the worldwide level: nine of them were weeds...
