Spear rot disease of oil palm in Indonesia

Suwandi Salleh; Akino, Seishi; Kondo, Norio

Spear rot disease of oil palm in Indonesia

2013

Suwandi Salleh | Akino, Seishi | Kondo, Norio

Common spear rot (CSR) or which is also known as 'crown disease' or juvenile disease' is the most common disorder of young oil palm. The disease may cause considerable economic losses under certain predisposing genetic and environmental conditions. The disease incidence may reach 10% or more in some oil palm farmers plot in South Sumatra. Ceratocystis paradoxa and the spear leafinhabiting fungi dominated by Fusarium incarnatum and Fusarium sp. nov were found associated with CSR in South Sumatra, North Sumatra and Bangka-Belitung Province. Koch's postulate experiments showed that C. paradoxa was able to infect oil palm leaves causing a typical CSR symptom. The Fusarium species were usually not pathogenic, but exhibited weakly aggression when the leaf tissue is succulent and wounded. The period of leaf susceptibility is associated with rapid growth of oil palm eaves following recovery from periodic drought. Drought and salt stress may also benefit pathogen fitness and virulence. Mycelial growth, activity of polygalacturonase and laccase, and virulence of F. incarnatum, Fusarium sp. and C. paradoxa were significantly increased following recovery from KCI-hyperosmotic stress. The present study confirms the complexity of factors involved in CSR of oil palms, and drought and salt stresses are considered to be the major environmental factors in promoting host susceptibility and pathogen virulence.

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