Abstract
Red palm weevil (RPW) is a dangerous pest that infects the date palm tree and makes tunnels in the tree’s trunk. RPW infection is followed by secondary invaders of microorganisms that cause degradation of the trunk tissues leading to toppling the crown and death of the tree in a short time. This study showed that Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. was the common fungal species isolated from the root and trunk tissues of the date trees infested with RPW, which recorded 100% of frequency. Pathogenicity of 4 isolates of F. oxysporum was confirmed on date palm seeds and seedlings. The results confirmed that all isolates involved in rot of the germinated seeds (40–100% incidence), root rot, and death of palm seedlings (20–100%) under artificial infection as well as degradation of date palm petioles. Application of 20 L/palm of systemic fungicide (Topsin) at 1% as foliar and soil drench of date palm for successive three times successfully reduced development of the deterioration and suppressed the growth of F. oxysporum. Interestingly this fungicide did not suppress the growth of Trichoderma viride Pers. So, our results recommend this fungicide to suppress the pathological and degradable activities of F. oxysporum during the integrated pest management of RPW on date palm trees.
Highlights
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is an important fruit crop grown in tropical and subtropical countries [1,2]
Seven species were isolated from the roots of date palm trees infested with
Seven fungal species were isolated from the roots of date palm trees infested with appeared in 5.9% of samples, Botryodiplodia sp. was observed in 2.9% of the Red palm weevil (RPW), Fusarium solani was the most frequent fungus that recorded 54.2%
Summary
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is an important fruit crop grown in tropical and subtropical countries [1,2]. Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa have about 100 million date palms cultivated in one million hectares [3]. Dates are considered a good source of human food because they have a considerable quantity of simple sugars, in addition, they could provide some antioxidants such as phenol. Some dates were characterized by antibacterial, antifungal, and antitumor properties [4,5,6,7]. Cultivation of date palms in the Middle East became under threat because of the red palm weevil “RPW” (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) that was reported in more than 50% of the cultivated area [8,9].
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