A Biosecurity Tool: High-Intensity, Pulsed Polychromatic Light and UV-C Treatments of Oil Palm Pollen and Spores of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis

Abstract

The movement of oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis) pollen as a germplasm material between oil palm-growing countries for the purposes of plant-breeding programs is common in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. Reports of pollen contamination with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis ( Foe), the causal agent of Fusarium wilt disease for oil palm, heightened the need for an operational decontamination technique for oil palm pollen prior to export. In this study, high-intensity, pulsed polychromatic light (HIPPL) and conventional UV (UV-C) were used as decontamination tools to treat Foe spores and oil palm pollen. We combined qualitative studies for HIPPL- and UV-C-treated Foe spores and quantitative studies for treated pollen. The study showed that despite UV-C and HIPPL successfully controlling Foe, oil palm pollen had reduced viability or was inviable upon exposure to various doses of UV-C and HIPPL sources. The effects of UV-C at doses of 2.5, 5, and 10 kJ/m2 and HIPPL at 10, 20, and 40 pulses were determined for oil palm pollen and Foe germination. UV-C doses of 10 kJ/m2 and 40 pulses of HIPPL showed significant reduction in germination of oil palm pollen but had no adverse effect on Foe viability. At 60 kJ/m2 of UV-C and 240 pulses of HIPPL, Foe was inviable, and pollen could not germinate. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license .