Abstract
In 2017–2018, extensive symptoms of sudden decline and fruit rot were observed on date palms in southern Tunisia. Samples of diseased plants were randomly collected in six localities. Based on morphological identification, Fusarium was the most frequent fungal genus detected. A sequencing of translation elongation factor, calmodulin, and second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II genes was used to identify 63 representative Fusarium strains at species level and investigate their phylogenetic relationships. The main species detected was Fusarium proliferatum, and at a much lesser extent, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Fusarium caatingaense, Fusarium clavum, Fusarium incarnatum, and Fusarium solani. Pathogenicity on the Deglet Nour variety plantlets and the capability to produce mycotoxins were also assessed. All Fusarium species were pathogenic complying Koch’s postulates. Fusarium proliferatum strains produced mainly fumonisins (FBs), beauvericin (BEA), and, to a lesser extent, enniatins (ENNs) and moniliformin (MON). All F. brachygibbosum strains produced low levels of BEA, diacetoxyscirpenol, and neosolaniol; two strains produced also T-2 toxin, and a single strain produced HT-2 toxin. Fusarium caatingaense, F. clavum, F. incarnatum produced only BEA. Fusarium solani strains produced MON, BEA, and ENNs. This work reports for the first time a comprehensive multidisciplinary study of Fusarium species on date palms, concerning both phytopathological and food safety issues.
Highlights
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) crop covers an area of about 1.1 million hectares worldwide, with a production of approximately 8,500,000 tons [1]
We reported the occurrence of several Fusarium species on date palms grown in Tunisia
We could confirm that, we detected a high incidence of Fusarium species on date palms, the quarantine pathogen F. oxysporum f. sp. albedinis is absent in all the considered samples
Summary
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) crop covers an area of about 1.1 million hectares worldwide, with a production of approximately 8,500,000 tons [1]. The main date-producing regions are Asia and Africa, with 56% and 43% of the world’s harvest, respectively. In. Tunisia, the total production of dates has reached the highest level ever in 2018, with about thousand tons of fruit produced, half of which destined to the export [1]. In Tunisia, the date palm occupies a strategic place in the socio-economic stability of the oasis agro-system in desert regions and provides the main financial resource of the oasis. In all cultivated areas worldwide, date palms, under suitable climatic conditions, are susceptible to various fungal pathogens, especially to Fusarium species [3,4]. The most severe pathogen is F. oxysporum, F. albedinis that causes Fusarium wilt of date palm trees, the Bayoud disease [4,5] and has been responsible of the death of more than
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