Abstract
Agarwood is a fragrant dark resin produced in plants belonging to the family Thyme-laeaceae and which has a high economic value. The unique fragrance and medicinal applications intensify the value of agarwood. The wild populations of agarwood trees are highly threatened by high economic demand. Therefore, it is worthwhile to develop an artificial agarwood induction technology for the countries that rely on agarwood from the natural habitat of the plants. Fungal induction of agarwood has been shown to be an efficient method. Interestingly, most of the fungi known from agarwood are endophytic. In this paper, we supplement and update the bioactivity of fungi associated with agarwood and their ability to induce agarwood formation. According to the existing literature, 59 endophytic fungal strains of 16 genera induce agarwood production, most of which belong to Fusarium (28 identified strains). Hence, Fusarium is a good candidate for further studies on fungal induced agarwood production.
Highlights
Agarwood is a highly valuable, fragrant, and dark resinous heartwood of trees in the family Thymelaeaceae [1–4]
Agarwood is produced in trees belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae (Aetoxylon, Aquilaria, Gonystylus and Gyrinops) [33]
Most of this research was focused on the biological induction of agarwood production due to the beneficial effects
Summary
Agarwood is a highly valuable, fragrant, and dark resinous heartwood of trees in the family Thymelaeaceae [1–4]. The plants in the family Thymelaeaceae, especially the genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops, are well known for agarwood production, and these are grown in several countries in Southeast Asia (e.g., Borneo, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Guinea, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam) [2,3,8,9]. For the sustainable development of the agarwood industry, many agarwood-producing countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam) have been committed to developing artificial induction of agarwood resin in agarwood tree plantations [6,9]. The three common induction techniques are physical, chemical, and biological [7,9] Among these three factors, biological (fungal inoculation) is considered to be effective, and most of the fungi used for inoculation are endophytes isolated from healthy or diseased wood of agarwood-producing trees [9,27,28]. We provide references for better research on the sustainable development of agarwood production through novel technologies
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