How will climate change affect oil palm fungal diseases?

Abstract

Palm oil is a very important commodity. It is added to numerous products and is a biofuel. However, oil palms (OP) are subjected to fungal diseases of which Fusarium wilt and Ganoderma rots are the most important. Considerations of how climate change (CC) affects tropical economic plants are limited and for OP are even fewer. The margin for adapting to higher temperatures and changing humidity is reduced in tropical OP. Land will become increasingly unsuitable for growing OP and the plants will become stressed allowing ingress of fungal diseases. New land will be increasingly suitable where the environmental conditions are less severe than in the tropics. Novel diseases may threaten the crop. Finally, the effect of the major consequences of CC on OP fungal diseases is considered herein with a view to establishing key hypotheses.

Understanding colonization and proliferation potential of endophytes and pathogen in planta via plating, polymerase chain reaction, and ergosterol assay

“…It was therefore expected that ergosterol would be detected for all isolates in this study, and that the ergosterol levels can be used as a measure of the proliferation potential of endophytes in planta . This observation agrees with many studies [9], [32], [38], but this is the first reporting for T2 ( T. asperellum ) and BTF08 ( P. citrinum ). On the contrary, the slow-growing nature of BTF08 and Gb may have resulted in poorer proliferation rate (lower ergosterol content).…”

“…They are also known to have biocontrol potential against several important plant pathogens [5], either by inducing plant defense mechanisms [6] or by promoting plant growth [7]. The presence of endophytic biocontrol agents (BCAs) in the plants is advantageous as endophytes are protected from adverse soil conditions [8], [9]. Several studies have reported the successful use of endophytic BCAs, mainly on vegetable and fruit crops.…”

Oil palm natural diversity and the potential for yield improvement

“…MPOB Nigerian collection alone occupies 200 hectares. However, ex situ approach allows more thorough characterization of the traits of interest, and provides guarantees for preservation of traits that might become of interest in the future (Rajanaidu et al, 2000; Paterson et al, 2013). The fate of in situ germplasm is unpredictable, they can be either destroyed, or replanted.…”

Breeding the oil palm (Elaeis guineensisJacq.) for climate change

“…Indeed, Paterson et al (2013) anticipated that land will become increasingly unsuitable for growing oil palm and the plants will become more stressed, thus allowing the ingress of fungal diseases.…”