Oil palm defence reaction to the vascular wilt disease was characterized by the production of phenolic compounds in the roots and pseudobulbs infected at the prenursery stage. The study was aimed at discriminating between tolerant and sensitive ones by the phenolic reaction of the roots and pseudobulbs after their infection with the Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.elaeidis, the pathogenic agent of vascular wilt disease of oil palm. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Analysis (DA) show that although the phenolic metabolism was different in both organs; all the phenols belonged to the flavonoids and can be used to distinguish the tolerant clones and sensitive ones.

The in vitro antibacterial activities and time kill regimes of crude methanol extract of Helichrysum pedunculatum was assessed using standard microbiological procedures. The experiment was conducted against a panel of bacterial species made up of clinical, environmental and reference strains. The extract was active against eleven of the twenty-one bacteria tested at a concentration of 10 mg/ml. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values for all the susceptible bacteria ranged between 0.1 -5.0 mg/ml. The average log reduction in viable cell count in time kill assay ranged between 0.17 Log 10 to 6.37 Log 10 cfu/ml after 6 h of interaction, and between 0.14 Log 10 and 6.99 Log 10 cfu/ml after 12 h interaction in 1×MIC and 2×MIC of the extract. The extract was bactericidal against 8 of the test bacteria at 1×MIC and against 9 of the test bacteria at 2×MIC from 12 h interaction period. At both MIC levels, the extract was bactericidal to all the reference strains and four of the six environmental strains at both MIC levels after 12 h of interaction. Also the extract was bactericidal to four of the six environmental strains at both MIC levels after 12 h of interaction and bacteriostatic during the first 6 h of interaction. Inhibitory levels of crude methanol extract of H. pedunculatum could be bacteriostatic or bactericidal independent of Gram's characteristic.