一個沒有香蕉的世界很快就會降臨

快速傳播的真菌會導(dǎo)致香蕉滅絕

Imagine a world with no bananas: no banana for breakfast smoothies, no peanut butter and banana sandwiches at lunch and no banana splits for dessert.

想象一個沒有香蕉的世界:早餐沒有香蕉奶昔，午餐沒有花生醬和香蕉三明治，甜點也沒有香蕉片。

This tragic scenario could soon be a reality.

這種悲慘的情況很快就會成為現(xiàn)實。

A deadly fungus that plagued banana plantations in Southeast Asia for 30 years has made the inevitable leap to Latin America, where much of the world’s bananas are grown.

一種致命的真菌在東南亞香蕉種植園肆虐了30年，如今它已不可避免地向拉丁美洲蔓延，而世界上大部分香蕉都生長在拉丁美洲。

The Colombian Agricultural Institute confirmed on Aug. 8 that it had found a strain of the Fusarium oxysporum fungus, called Tropical Race 4 (TR4).

哥倫比亞農(nóng)業(yè)研究所8月8日證實，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種名為熱帶種4 (TR4)的鐮刀菌。

Feds declared a national state of emergency, ordering farmers to quarantine plantations and destroy crops in the north, where the fungus was discovered.

聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局宣布全國進(jìn)入緊急狀態(tài)，命令農(nóng)民隔離種植園，并摧毀北部發(fā)現(xiàn)真菌的農(nóng)作物。

“What we’re having is an almost apocalyptic scenario where we’ll probably lose Cavendish [the most widely cultivated banana] as well,” Sarah Gurr, Exeter University’s chair in food security, told Wired.

埃克塞特大學(xué)食品安全系主任莎拉•古爾在接受《連線》雜志采訪時表示:“我們面臨的是一種近乎世界末日的情景，我們可能也會失去卡文迪什香蕉(種植最廣泛的香蕉)。”

“Once it’s in a country it’s very hard to get rid of it,” added Dan Bebber, a bio-sciences lecturer at Exeter.

?？巳厣锟茖W(xué)講師丹•貝伯補充道：“一旦它進(jìn)入一個國家，就很難擺脫。”

The current plight of the banana has a familiar historical arc.

香蕉目前的困境有歷史軌跡可尋。

Before the mid-20th century, wild banana varieties existed aplenty, grown around the world, each with unique flavors, textures and colors. But as industrialized agriculture boomed in the early 1900s, only the strongest and most prominent type was selected for the purpose global banana domination — the Cavendish banana.

20世紀(jì)中葉以前，野生香蕉品種繁多，遍布世界各地，每一種都有獨特的風(fēng)味、質(zhì)地和顏色。但隨著工業(yè)化農(nóng)業(yè)在20世紀(jì)初的蓬勃發(fā)展，只有最強壯和最突出的品種被選中，以達(dá)到統(tǒng)治全球香蕉的目的——卡文迪什香蕉。

At the time, the Cavendish was the only type of banana formidable enough to replace the prior reigning champion banana, the Gros Michel. Those were being wiped out by — you guessed it — a proto-strain of the Fusarium fungus.

當(dāng)時，卡文迪什香蕉是唯一一種強大到足以取代上屆冠軍大麥克香蕉的香蕉。你猜對了，其余都被鐮刀菌的原菌種消滅了。

Unfortunately, as nature has demonstrated time and again, the lack of genetic variance does a species no favors, and the once-hardy Cavendish is now being threatened by its own plague.

不幸的是，正如大自然一再證明的那樣，缺乏基因變異對物種沒有好處，曾經(jīng)頑強的卡文迪什如今正受到自身瘟疫的威脅。

The disease was first discovered in Taiwan in 1989, followed by other Western Hemisphere Cavendish banana producers such as Lebanon, Israel, India and Australia. The disease spreads in the soil, easily transmitted via tractor tires, work boots and replanted specimens. TR4 can lie dormant for years until it’s soaked up along with water through the plant’s roots, and then starves the banana of nutrients.

該病于1989年在臺灣首次發(fā)現(xiàn)，隨后是黎巴嫩、以色列、印度和澳大利亞等西半球卡文迪什香蕉生產(chǎn)國。這種疾病在土壤中傳播，很容易通過拖拉機輪胎、工作靴和重新種植的樣本傳播。TR4可以休眠數(shù)年，直到它與水一起通過植物的根部被吸收，然后讓香蕉失去營養(yǎng)。

Considering the infection can go undetected for some time, it’s difficult to know how widespread it is already. Farmers have tried to contain the pathogen by destroying crops, quarantining farms, and diligently cleaning farm equipment and the people working there. None of it worked: In 1997, a TR4 outbreak hit Australia’s Northern Territory, and the fungus has since spread north to Queensland.

考慮到這種感染在一段時間內(nèi)無法被發(fā)現(xiàn)，很難知道它已經(jīng)有多廣泛。農(nóng)民們試圖通過破壞農(nóng)作物、隔離農(nóng)場、努力清洗農(nóng)場設(shè)備和在那里工作的人們來遏制這種病菌。但這些都沒有奏效:1997年，澳大利亞北領(lǐng)地爆發(fā)了一場TR4病毒的爆發(fā)，之后這種真菌向北傳播到了昆士蘭州。

Bebber predicts a “rapid spread” throughout Latin America. Some scientists are looking to gene-editing as a potential solution, or cross-breeding with other bananas to produce a more robust fruit.

Bebber預(yù)測整個拉丁美洲將會“迅速蔓延”。一些科學(xué)家正在尋找基因編輯作為一個潛在的解決方案，或與其他香蕉雜交，以生產(chǎn)出更健壯的水果。

But for now, the spread of the disease could mean the end of bananas as we know them. Scientists say it’s a wake-up call for the modern farm industry.

但就目前而言，這種疾病的傳播可能意味著香蕉的末日。科學(xué)家稱這是對現(xiàn)代農(nóng)業(yè)的一個警鐘。