I hope this references useful for you

http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS-94-9-1163A

http://www.ipni.net/publication/bci.nsf/0/6DA5A18A0C058B1D85257BBA0062EF03/$FILE/Better%20Crops%20International%202003-2%20p22.pdf

http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS-12-11-1036-FE

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23796724

http://www.google.com.eg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CD0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macrothink.org%2Fjournal%2Findex.php%2Fjbls%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F992%2F1814&ei=fBf0UsqPFun20gX7woHQCQ&usg=AFQjCNFbYlQ4DBo_pSi4l0qtK7uS6FsynQ&sig2=v49YawVeTQC1sB74ir63Kg&bvm=bv.60983673,d.bGQ

http://ejfa.info/index.php/ejfa/article/viewFile/13505/6852

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/24341/1/pp.pdf

http://isopb.org/docs/P3_Dr%20Tristant%20Palmelit%20SAS.pdf

http://edepot.wur.nl/200764

Bud rot disease has no economic incidence in Africa and Asia (but I don't know exactly how often it could be found there - but this is very rare)

I guess thare are several reasons for it:

1) narrow genetic base of existing commercial oil palm cultivars in South America, and high diversity of this species in Africa

2) Many other host plants in Asia and Africa for Phytophthora palmivora, thus, population of the pathogen has selection against high virulence to a single host, when predominant commercial cultivars with narrow genetic base in S. America favours selection of highly virulent strains.

3) Oil Palm plantations in S.America spread to clay soil areas, and plants are more susceptible to the pathogen after physiological stress - the same as with sudden oak death and Phytophthora ramorum.

I think commercial cultivars have more or less the same genetic base in South America, Asia and Africa. The commercial (guineensis) oil palms usually are hybrids between an Asiatic population (Deli) and african populations (like Ivory coast and Congo). That's what is sold all over the world.

Yes, this disease is not so important in Asia, and Africa. However, it could spread via importation of seeds. Also, climate change could change the situation as I have written.

I hope this references useful for you

http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS-94-9-1163A

http://www.ipni.net/publication/bci.nsf/0/6DA5A18A0C058B1D85257BBA0062EF03/$FILE/Better%20Crops%20International%202003-2%20p22.pdf

http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS-12-11-1036-FE

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23796724

http://www.google.com.eg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CD0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macrothink.org%2Fjournal%2Findex.php%2Fjbls%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F992%2F1814&ei=fBf0UsqPFun20gX7woHQCQ&usg=AFQjCNFbYlQ4DBo_pSi4l0qtK7uS6FsynQ&sig2=v49YawVeTQC1sB74ir63Kg&bvm=bv.60983673,d.bGQ

http://ejfa.info/index.php/ejfa/article/viewFile/13505/6852

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/24341/1/pp.pdf

http://isopb.org/docs/P3_Dr%20Tristant%20Palmelit%20SAS.pdf

http://edepot.wur.nl/200764

Dear colleagues,

Thanks for your comments.

In south America it is called to as “pudricion del cogollo” or PC (for its name in Spanish), and in Brazil it is called Amarelecimento Fatal (AF). I have been talking with some oil palm planter and specialists and they are not convinced that Phytophora palmivora is the only cause of Bud Rot and in some cases they are quite sure that is not the case. It has also a debate if PC is the same as AF or if we are talking about different diseases.

In short, the causal agent of AF in Brazil remain unknown. We are investigating some abiotic factors (related with waterlogged and reduced minerals in soil solution) that is the reason why Im searching information about bud rot around the world. In Brazil, where the most part of oil palm plantations are over sandy Ferralsols, paradoxically bad drained, bud rot (AF) is always related with waterlloged soils. Does someone knows occurrence of bud rot / PC or AF in well aerated soils ?

There also appears to be a bud rot caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa. So it is not straight forward. I know Malaysia has a project on looking at disease spread from germ plasm. What is the level of Ganoderma disease in Brazil? I do not know much about the effects of soils though.

Hi Russel

Thanks for your comment.

I have heard about Thielaviopsis paradoxa, but as another disease. Some symptoms are similiar to AF but you can find the Thielaviopsis quite easily.

But my phitopathologist colleagues are tired to search some biotic agent for AF (bud rot) in Brazil. Thielaviopsis It is not widespread in Brazil.

Cheers

Wenceslau

What about spear rots? They are supposed to be serious in tropical America. Do you have much of those?

Hi Russel, I'm soli physicist. I need to ask my colleagues for a more comprehensive answer about those difference in oil palm diseases in Brazil. But I guess, at least, here in Brazil, in many cases, we are talking about the same thing. The symptons of AF start in the root system what is hard to see then the first realized symptom is the yellowing and rooted spears. But I guess in some parts of the world spear root is also a disease with causal agent identified. Isnt it ?

I just noticed Khaled Arafat listed my oil palm climate change paper above. Thanks for that. By the way, some contacts of mine in various countries were thinking about starting a consortium on palms. One of these contacts wrote a paper about it which was mainly for date palms. It would be a group of experts discussing relevant issues. looking for answers, applying for research funds. Those kinds of things. Any interest?

yes, Indeed a strong interest.

Hy I Nyoman thanks for you comments. I know about the work in Colombia by Cenipalma and the Australian team. But as I wrote Phytophora palmivora do not explain all situation called PC or AF in South America. My colleague from phytopatologhy team have been working hard form many years and couldn't isolate the causal agent. Moreover some epidemiological studies conclude that this is not caused by biotic agents. That are the reason why I have some hyphotesis about abiotic cause of Bud Rot / PC / AF and Im looking for some similar situations in other oil palm regions.

Well there is info on abiotic stress of oil palm if you check SCOPUS for example.

I know that many information about stress effects on oil palm is available on science depositories as Scopus or Web of Science. What I am looking for is someone that is facing a similar problem in Africa or Asia to share some information about soils characteristics and soil water climate regimes.

This disease has no traces yet in the two biggest world producers of oil palm plantations which are Indonesia (No 1) and Malaysia (No 2). This is a timely question indeed.

At a recent international meeting in Malaysia in November 2011 (PIPOC), it was revealed that the disease by estimation from Colombian planters, had wiped out around 50,000ha of oil palm estates in South America, Colombia, the world’s fifth largest oil palm producer.

Both the Institute of Oil Palm Research Indonesia (IOPRI) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) are taking proactive measures from prevention to control.

It is said that the disease can spread at an alarming speed, thus unprepared countries would be taken off guard. The pathogen agent phytophthora palmivora, can swim in the water. Countries like Brazil, Suriname, Panama and Ecuador are facing it.

In Colombia, the "Dolly Parton" hybrids that bear voluptuous fruit bunches, bred from Malaysia by marrying the Dura and Psifera palms (DXP), did not stand even with sanitation. To this day, it looks like there is no cure yet available for this potential threat.

Colombia sharing the same tropical belt globe location and weather, a shortage of cooking oil if the disease finds it way to Southeast Asia could become a nightmare by harming this significant growth national income (GNI) major revenues source for Indonesia and Malaysia.

Both Colombia and Malaysia have signed an agreement to search more on the causal agent of this disease.

Recently, Malaysia had a successful breakthrough on another fungal based agent disease basal stem rot (BSR), Ganoderma bonisense with a biofertiliser.

Scientists working on those problems, have indicated that the over usage of synthetic fertilisers, chemical pesticides in oil palm plantations, are one the main root causes by depriving the soil of its natural enemies.

The soil is naturally rich in those to combat potential diseases like bud rot disease and else.

A solution is again to come back to a more friendlier and sustainable integrated pest management system, applying the law of ecology, applied entomology, usage of safe biopesticides, biofertiliser composts, etc.

A combined research team from IOPRI and MPOB would certainly be of the best endeavor for the oil palm industry worldwide.

Pierre (French Island of Martinique near Miami Florida)

Dear Exélis, thanks for you comment. But as I wrote the situation can not only be a biotic agent but some soil chemical constrains that appears in some kind of waterlogged soils. Many oil palm specialist from Colombia, French, Malaysia, Equator, Costa Rica and so visited the affected plantations and investigated the situation here...nobody could find a biotic agent. If you know someone that are also investigating this possibility please let me know.

At the moment, there is no outbreak of bud rot disease has been reported or detected in oil palm plantation in Malaysia. Cenipalma oil palm research centre of Colombian has reported that the bud rot disease in Colombia is cause by P.palmivora as said by Exélis Pierre. We have P.palmivora attacking cocoa and durian crop but they seem not yet to cause any outbreak in oil palm plantation. I'm now doing study in this disease.

Dear Miaztul Mohamed. Thanks for you comment about no report about bud rot in Malaysia. Anyway: The attacks of P. palmivora in cocoa and durian plantations in Malaysia has any relation with soil drainage ? i.e badly drained soil has a more intense attack ?

I'm not sure about drainage. But when I visited cocoa research field of Malaysian Cocoa Board, I was told by the researcher there that the black pod disease of cocoa will increase in raining season. So I think it must have some relation with drainage. But I dont know if there is any studies conducted on effect of drainage to the disease attack in cocoa and durian cultivation. Sorry i cant gave you good info on that as I'm just starting to study the bud rot disease of oil palm but more to understanding the biology of the causal agent (P.palmivora) and development of a detection method of P.palmivora

Thanks Maizatul by sure your information gave some hints in this discussion.

Dear Wenceslau Teixeira,

Yes it is well understood thanks. The BSR, basal stem rot disease is well documented now, unless the bud rot disease which is new to us. I mentioned of the breakthrough done by MPOB with the team of Idris working on this actively. To answer to ya question about :"If you know someone that are also investigating this possibility please let me know". As for bud rot disease, since an agreement research is signed between Colombia and MPOB, i believe you could seek help from that source for collaboration may be. As you foresee, abiotic (excess of broad spectrum long range contact pesticides BSLRC) factors are mentioned as being causal for the BSR by depriving the soils of its natural enemies. You may need to make extensive soil analysis to detect irregular contents related to the soil type you are working with.

From another perspective, it looks like that enzymatic elements are important in the remediation of poor soil activities. Reverting to those biocompost fertilisers would give the double advantage of getting rid of wastes and useful for good agricultural practice GMP improvement. I believe also that specific fungal species could help in controlling this disease.

So yes i would agree strongly with you again on those abiotic factors for being responsible for such occurrence like the bud rot disease.

Pierre (French Island of Martinique near Miami Florida)

To some extent, regarding your question and answer on soil related possible potential stress related to disease occurrence. There might be a combined effect from others factors as mentioned above. This should be taken and look on various angles to detect and identify clearly the root causes.

For instance, i have worked in oil palm plantations with MPOB (MPOB provided me all logistical access and extensive expertise) made of peat soil showing a lot of under soil water source. That could be interesting in view of your research. and make sense too.

Soil analysis could provide more clues, showing depletion from the expected normal natural content in it.

The soil need to be reestablished back to its original form of resources etc...

Pierre (French Island of Martinique near Miami Florida)

Hi Exélis, thank for you comments. Do you published your results and any report available about soil palm growing in peat soils ? I'm nowadays carrying on a soil water monitoring near some oil palm growing in near saturated soils (but with aerated water) the palms do not grow well but they dont show symptoms of bud rot. The avalilibilty to some "poisoned mineral" in the soil solution is quite complex related with reduction of redox potential and presence of some kind of amorphous minerals (not easily available in routine soil fertility labs). Im looking for cooperations in this line of research.

I am sure that climate change will have a detrimental effect on the soil with increased flooding leaching minerals from the soil a likely outcome.

Hi Russell. Full agree with you high precipitation rates will increase leaching minerals (can be solved adding more fertilizers. Of course that will enhance the costs). But high precipitations can enhance also waterlogging (as happens already in as some parts of oil Palm plantations in Brazil, Tumaco in Colombia, Shushufindi Ecuador) the solution to drain those soils are not a easy task.

Are any of the above contributors interested in joining a consortium on palms? Please see my question in another thread regarding this and add your names.

http://www.dopr.gov.in/Staff.htm

In India, we have a Directorate of Oilpalm research coming under the purview of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. You can contact the plant pathologist here to have the current status of the Bud rot disease of Oilpalm in our country. They will be having the statistics of the disease incidence , losses incurred and severity of the disease or hotspots etc., This is the sole national institute exclusively working on production and protection aspects of Oilpalm . Hope this will help.

Bud rot is a disease caused by a Fungi. It may affect the palm due nutrient imbalance, although relationship between soil type and the disease was not established. Seasons where RH is high increase the incidence of bud rot disease and disappear when the RH is declined.

Bud rot is disease common to plants/trees belonged family 'Palme' and could spread disease any palm belonged to family Palme. Extensive research on bud rot has been carried out in Sri Lanka. Please contact Director, coconut research board Sri Lanka for more details. What usually does for that disease is to place balls of clothes soaked in cupric sulphate near the crown. Once it is affected it cannot be saved. To prevent the spread of disease place above balls close to the crown (do not place on the tender leaves) palms around the affected one.

Dear Upananda

Thanks for your comments and you assertive that bud rot is caused by a fungi. Is that fungi Phitophora palmivora ? Do you have some reports or publications about this control with sulphate cupric balls ?

All the best

Wenceslau

Dear Sesha Kollipara. Thanks for those information about the situation in India. I will surely contact the Directorate of Oil Palm Recherches in India. Im very curious about the situation in Kerala - www.dopr.gov.in

Thanks again

Dear Wenceslau Teixeira,

DOPR has one research center at Kerala but crux of the research is based at DOPR, Andhra Pradesh the link of which is sent to you earlier. Main center in Andhra Pradesh will have the status of the disease at Kerala and other states where ever they are grown.

Scientist-In-Charge : Dr.P.Murugesan

Directorate of Oil Palm Research (Research Centre)

Palode, Pacha P.O. - 695 562,

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Grams : PALMSEARCH PACHA

Phone : 91-472-2840221

Fax : 91-472-2840774

Email : [email protected]

Dear Wenceslau,

Thanks for you comments.

The strain of P. palmivoara causing budbrot disease in Sri Lanka is not as devastating as strain in South America. The climatic condition in South America may conducive for disease development and incidence. My recommendation is based upon incidence of disease at small scale and in pockets.

The recommendation I can suggest you (a soil scientist) is to examine the available phosphate and potassium iron concentrations in the soil solution. it may give clue to identify the influence of nutrients on the susceptibility of palm to fungal attack.

The important factor is the age of the palm. Usually disease incidence takes place on young but yielding palm. Does it happen in your country?

Dear Upananda

Thanks for sharing you expertise with us. As I wrote before here in Brazil we are not so sure about P. palmivora as the main cause of budrot at least my phytopathologist colleagues never related them in Brazil. The symptoms of fatal yellowing in Brazil appear in very young palm (in the first year) if they were planted in a plot where this disease happens before. I heard about the incidence in nurseries but I never saw it. We had an experiment where we monitored for 1 and 1/2 year some nutrients in the soil concentration (K and Fe included). We couldn't measure P in the soil solution as it has so low concentration that was not enough for the resolution of our Plasma. Moreover I was advised do buy some special suction cups (not ceramic) to do P measurements and they were to expensive. Do you have some hypothesis related with P ? By the way: We do not observe symptoms of P deficiency and foliar levels are ok. The iron concentration changed during the rainy season and we have some picks of concentration but the variability is to high to be conclusive.

I am specialized in animal pathology not in plant pathology

Hy Sherein, I dont understand your post.

We are talking here in this question about some physiological disorder or fungi attack in oil palm (Elaeis guineesis).

I ment i would like to answer if it is my career

thanks

Dear Teixeria,

Thank for your continued interest in solving the problem. I can suggest you to lay an experiment with added dosage of triple phosphate which release P iron to the soil solution readily. similarly treat affected palms with the additional dosages of triple phosphate, then with muriate of potash, separately and then in combination of both nutrients. I believe you could observe positive results when considering the influence of these nutriments on the defense mechanism of the plant cells.

Dear Arachchilage,

Thank your your suggestion. I will talk with some of my colleagues that are fertilizer and soil chemical specialist and came back to you soon. By the way: The defense mechanism that will be created with those fertilizers it will be against the fungi attack in the crown. Is that right ? Do you expect some root protection or chelating mechanisms against a high Fe concentration into the soil solution with enhance of P and K ?

Yes, You are right. Phosphorous enhances rigidity of cell wall. K improves the nutrient distribution mechanism of the plant. the aggregate impact may be the improvement of the defense mechanism.

Presence of high Fe iron concentration may reduce the solubility of Phosphate. Try experiment with low concentration of FE +++. This may enhance P ions concentration in the soil solution. Very often soil reaction vary with many factors. I do not know the basis of addition of Fe which is readily available in many soil types.

However, knowledge of soil scientist in your country have to be respected if they advice on addition of Fe as a measure to reduce incidence of budrot disease.

Another suggestion is try to find out Zn ion concentration. Zn has been used to reduce incidence in leaf curl in Capcicum annum. However I do not know the influence of Zn on monocotlydens. Any way it is worthwhile to try.

Hi Upananda, thank for you your comments and suggestions. Our hypothesis is that high concentration of reduced iron (Fe++) in the soil solution is damaging the root systems. It happens when the soil stay longer waterlogged therefore what Im looking for is some chemical for reducing iron in soil solution. Te easy solution to drain and created a better aeration is is not a easy task in the region where the problem happens.

the pragmatic way to solve this problem is through natural process, You know some plants have tolerance to high Fe iron concentrations. In Sri Lanka there are varieties of paddy which are grown on such soil.

high tolerance does not mean high absorption capacity but it will use more FE than other plants. I recommend you to contact Rice Research Institute of Sri Lanka to get information on paddy varieties with high Fe tolerence. From that you may be able to identify similar plants in Brazil. when drainage and aeration are costly let the plants to do the job for you.

Another suggestion is microbes, which thrives in high Fe concentrations. Microbe has been used to clear oil-spills in the sea. then why not high Fe situations? have you observed microbes which use Fe+++?

Refer Martin Alexanders articles on microbes. Once he was a professor at Cornell.

Thanks. Upananda. I know that bacterias can reduce iron (from Fe+++ -> Fe++) but the inverse I'm not sure.I´ll have a look at the literature. All the best

Bud rot is caused by soilborne pathogen Phytophthora palmivora which assumes epidemic proportion under rainfall spreading by splash dispersal. If appropriate management practises are not followed, this disease can spread like a wild fire and cause severe damage and wipe out the entire plantations . Application of chemical fungicides such as foliar spray of Potassium Phosphonate (0.3%) or Fenamidone (10%) + Mancozeb (50%) available as Sectin from Bayer crop sciences. This should be coupled with soil application of biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum @ 250g/ plant mass multiplied in talc or FYM . This combination should be applied once before the onset of monsoon, another time during the monsoon , finally post monsoon . This will work effectively for the Phytophthora foot rot of Black Pepper caused by Phytophthora capsici. Interestingly Phytophthora foot rot of Black Pepper, Bud rot of Coconut, Oilpalm are all caused by different sps of Phytophthora fungus. It can be a menace and severely hamper the cultivation if appropriate management practices are not adopted. We have observed the severe incidence of this Phytophthora disease in Black Pepper in severe alarming proportions in Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation managed 5000 acres of Black Pepper. This disease was discussed and being worked thoroughly for many years under ALL INDIA COORDINATED RESEARCH PROJECT ON SPICES with the main center being Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut along with other 19 coordinated centers spread through out India.

Hi colleagues,

I guess we are talking about a different disease, It was called as similar in the literature, but I get convinced that are different problem. I just confirm with my colleague from Phytopathology (Celia Tremacoldi from Embrapa Amazônia Oriental). She confirms that she never found necrosis as caused by P. palmivora in the oil palm in Brazil. They identified some attacks caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa.

P. palmivora there is a problem in coco and oil papaya plantation. I guess we are talking about a different problem that the external symptoms s are similar. This problem in Brazil (called fatal yellowing or Amarelecimento fatal in Portuguese) is very serious one and it damaged thousands hectares of oil palm.

Symptoms may vary from region to region and in some regions, certain symptoms predominate. You cant rule out the phytophthora pathogen unless you isolate it and prove the pathogenicity with kochs postulates with regards to Thielaviopsis paradoxa. sometimes, there will be vascular wilting, yellowing and drooping of leaves which can be due to fungal wilts or bacterial wilts

Some idea how to prove a disease that is caused by abiotic reasons ?

The Koch postulate doesn't apply in this situation. Im trying to simulate in controlled condition a situation where the "poisoned soil solution" can affect the oil palm and reproduce the symptoms... but as the redox potential is a quite complex phenomena in soil (is function of oxygen, pH, microorganism population, mineralogy of soil, carbon stocks, temperature and so on) it has been proved to be not a easy task.

Bud rot of oil palm could be caused by Phytphthora palmivora or it results from nutrient deficiency or by rhinoceros beetle. Bad smell and wet condition in the affected inflorescence are the indicators of fungal infection. Treatment with Bordeaux paste following tree surgery and then after spraying Bordeaux mixture / Ridomil can save the plants from top dying. Abiotic bud rot doesn't smell. Lack or excess of water may loose the binding of the buds to the stalk, the buds dry up and drop. Deficiency of P and Zn aggravate this type of rot. Treatment of collar region with P, K, lime, Zn and B@ 10g, 10g, 50g, 5g and 2-3g per plant respectively mixed with Tricho-compost will prevent bud rot through providing proper nutrition. For a quick management, foliar spray of Zn and B@ 500pm is suggested. For test of abiotic cause, moist chamber growing following washing the affected bud is suggested.

Dear Bahadur

Thanks for your insightful recommendations based upon empirical evidence, I believe. I also recommended high dosages of P, K, and Zn. Your recommendations are more concrete than mine since it gives specific instructions.

Dear Teixeira

Another suggestion is to map out the decease incidence spots/pockets in your country and observe environmental conditions (including soil nutrient status) where such incidences are rare or absent. Try to emulate those conditions where budrot is in prevalence.

Upananda

Dear Prof. Bahadur Meah

Thanks for your comments and suggestion. Im intriguing by one of you statements: "Lack or excess of water may loose the binding of the buds to the stalk, the buds dry up and drop. Deficiency of P and Zn aggravate this type of rot "

Do you have some publication or some physiological evidence that reinforce those assertives. I have been reporting those binding of the bud in some waterlogged oil palm plantations but I didn't understand the physiological processes that weakness the buds in those situation.

Hi Wenceslau.

is a purely pathological problem, I think that there is a confusion in relation to this disease in Brazil, as there supocisiones phytoplasma meantime bud rot P. palmivora is who causes the initial spots. In Colombia there is evidence that phytoplasmas are associated with more lethal wilt (ML), which is a disease with a totaly different patterns of symptoms BR because ML has an incubation period of 180-200 days and your symptoms are ascendetes . BR focuses its symptoms on leaves in training. In Colombia it has been verified that palam same two diseases may present this happening maybe that commercial plantios of Brazil for the confusion there.

Dear Aucique Perez

Im not if it is phatological problem if you mean that AF (in Brazil) has a biotic agent. The phytophatologists that are working with Fatal yellowing / Bud Rot (AF) in Brazil are "tired" to search the the pathological cause. Morevoer the epidemiologist confirm with new data that the spread of the disease do not follow the patterns with biotic agents. They told me that probably we are talking about different diseases AF and PC (Pudriccion del cogollo (caused by P. palmivora) in Colombia) in spite of some symptoms and environmental conditions where they occurs will be very similar. They have also looked again in a large leaf and stem survey the phytolasms. They found some of them but when they inoculated they never reproduced the symptoms of AF. They conclude that phytoplasm very probably is not the cause of AF and also P. palmivora is not the cause of AF in Brazil. Therefore Im working with abiotic reasons.

Lethal yellowing is a Phytoplasma disease. The symptoms are yellowing of the leaves in ascending order unlike Phytophthora rot. Also no bad smelling. In this case, yellowing starts from the topmost i.e. youngest leaf which get rotten at the base because of infection. The rotting spreads to the base of the inflorescence stalk leading to bud rot and dropping. Phytophthora palmivora can survive in the soil, not a soil-borne fungus. Phytophthora bud rot can be cured or prevented following the prescription given earlier, physiological bud dropping can be prevented through cultural practices also mentioned earlier. Lethal yellowing is not curable, can be prevented through eradication.

I have no scientific paper published on the suggested measures for physiological bud rot. However, this is our prescription issued or advised to the coconut growers visiting to our PDDC (Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic) at Bangladesh Agricultural University.

Dr. Wenceslau.

undoubtedly find an explanation and most importantly a control strategy for these two diseases are vital to the production system. Colombia to today have lost about 40000 hectares. I commend the efforts of EMBRAPA, without serious but important alliances with entities such as CENIPALMA to work for the same purpose. I will be very attentive to their research progress.

Dear Aucique Perez, thank your for your comments. I tried some contacts and cooperation with Cenipalma some years ago. They answered me that my research was interesting but the PC problem was solved in Colombia (P. palmivora). If you know someone that will be interested please let me know.

Hi Badhuar

Thank you for your comments. My colleagues told me about lethal yellowing caused byt phytoplasma but Im not sure if it is very rare or almost absent in Brazil. In the AF disease (Amarelecimento fatal in Portuguese) the symptoms starts from the youngest leaf which get yellow and rotten (dry) at the base. Also in advanced stage they dont have bad small or rotten areas in the steam or leaves (it is dry rotten symptom). Time to time, palms with severe symptoms start to re emit leaves (dry season) as if the palm has surpassed the problem, and more rarely palms can go back to a productive standard.

Dr. Wenceslau

Try this resolved the issue of the causal agent of the PC, but in terms of control strategies still lack many things clarified. The use of interspecific hybrids is the most viable alternative but known to be moderately susceptible few lines, so the resistance can be broken. In this sense there are certainly many things to do and investigate.

Full agree ! Moreover some Colombians and Ecuadorians palm growers that I met dont believe that P. palmivora is the unique cause of PC. They told me that some other causal agent could be involved. The inter-specific hybrid is also the solution found in Brazil for replanting areas with oil palms with AF. I have heard that in some areas in Colombia or Ecuador hybrids after some year have the symptoms typical for PC or AF, as in my hypothesis the causal agent for AF is abiotic It is not a broken of resistance but the tolerance level of some chemical constrains (i.e. high levels of reduced iron in soil solution) was surpassed. This phenomena (high levels of some chemical substance in soil solution) can be accumulative in the soil therefore the problem will appear after some years. If you know the regions where hybrid has symptoms of AF or PC or have some contact with researchers or farmers interested in share some information please let us know.

This disease comes from Africa, Ghana

Hi Modh. I thanks you comment. Do you have any repport, publcation or information about were it is in Ghana ?

Im just preparing a small workshop about Abiotic hypothesis for the Bud Rot (Amarelecimento Fatal) in Oil Palm, this will be important to report the problem in other regions. Moreover if it happens in Africa (I have a report that is happened in Congo) and also in Asia (as reported in Kerala - India) it seen that our hypothesis related with some kind of poisoned soil solution in waterlogged soils make sense. Thanks in advance

My colleague, Dr Mohd Hefni Rusli has done this research for his PhD. Maybe u can google to search his PhD thesis, done in UK.

Hi Thanks.

Do you have D. Mohnd Rusli email ? You can send it privately to me ([email protected]). I don want to use unpolished results (thesis) without asking the author.

Regards

I wanted to write unpublished results instead unpolished. Sorry for that.

His e-mail is [email protected]. U can ask him for your answer.

Good luck Brasil for World Cup 2014

Dear colleagues that follow this topic and can read Spanish.

I got this information and read that ANCUPA in Ecuador also made a research some years ago about the causal agent of Bud Rot or Pudrición del Cogollo and they also do not find P. palmivora as the causal agent. If someone is interested can read a summary of this research in

Sector palmicutor busca soluciones a la pudrición del cogollo

http://issuu.com/ancupa/docs/palma_nov/1

Hefni studied on fusarium wilt not bud rot disease

Hello Maizatul

Thanks for your comment. I wrote to Hefni and he told me that you is researching but rot / PC / AF.

Is that true ? Do you have already a publication ?

Dear Colleagues interested in the Bud Rot - AF - PC disease in oil Palm

I got two dissertation from the National University of Colombia (Bogota) about PC disease.

If you are interested and can read Spanish I add them in this public dropbox order.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ygibbi4i72tz3hl/AADMwVXvygUuTnvrz3YokqTma?dl=0

It is some interesting insights and still the great relation with not well aerated soils

Cheers

Wenceslau

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/24341/1/pp.pdf

This one of "mine" covers the topic to some extent. 

Russell

Dear Wenceslau, from my point of view the bud rot wherever it manifests is a potentially dangerous condition for any plantacon palm oil. I remember visiting team CENIPALMA several palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, some of them could find symptoms of the disease in nursery and was ratified with the ELISA test for determination of phythopthora. The palms were eliminated. I think the largest producers of palm oil are observed in america scene and are working on this issue. There are reports of 1945 in the Congo on palm are the same pattern of symptoms, thus the bud rot was present in plantations from the beginning, maybe the breeding programs have a selected manner palms then had resistance disease, nowadays, the resistance was broken, it is a hypothesis that at some point has been considered. I hope this information was useful for you. Sincerely. Carlos

I think you will find the largest producers of palm oil is SE Asia, and particularly Indonesia and Malaysia.

Dear colleagues, a friend of mine  (Dra. Alessandra Boari- Phytopatologist  ) just send me a link to another dissertation  where they have searched Phytophora palmivora as the pathogen that cause AF in Equator and havent found it.

http://repositorio.educacionsuperior.gob.ec/bitstream/28000/233/1/T-SENESCYT-0001.pdf

NARVÁEZ, M. P. R. Etiología de la pudrición del cogollo de la palma aceitera (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) en el Ecuador. 2012. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico.

Dear colleagues,for those who want to know a little more about the research in Colombia, they can access the site and enter the FEDEPALMA documentation center ... there pruning find all the research work of CENIPALMA. PALMAS journal.

Dear Wenceslau,

Registers in West Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and /India indicates that the disease has also destroyed complete areas in these regions. We at Cenipalma as Carlos mentioned have been working extensively with bud rot, and specially with P. palmivora, and let me tel you, as P. palmivora  is there, is just matter of time to explode if the weather conditions are right and the management practices are not implemented. I haven't visited Malaysia yet, but my colleagues told me that is worst that what they are thinking. We are working with MPOB in this issue trying to reduce their risk.

If you have any question, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Gabriel 

Hi Gabriel, 

Thank you for your attention. My colleagues phytopathologist from Embrapa and some Universities from Brazil and abroad looked for P. palmivora in the affected areas with 

Fatal yellowing or AF as we call it  in Brazil and they haven't found it.  I have talked with some oil palmer farmers that know Colombia, Equador and also plantation in Asia... and some of them believe that we can have a different  disease in Brazil, with many similarities with PC caused by P. palmivora. What we have learned in last years is that 

this disease only is badly aerated soils. We have  an experiment in high incidence area with AF  in Para State in Brazil some soil management using drains and mounds to see if E. guineensis will be in  infected. The farmer in this region are using only hybrids (E guineensis and E. oleifera) but they are not happy with the costs of artificial colonization.  

What I woulk like to ask you if in Colombian do you have situation where do you have the symptons for AF/PC and do not have found P. palmivora ? 

kind regards from Brazil

Wenceslau

http://publicaciones.fedepalma.org/index.php/palmas/article/view/280/280

A good reference is of van Slobbe etal....these authors indicate a very close similarity between symptoms of OPBR  in Brasil and Colombia

 Dear Wenceslau:

A little bit of history about PC in Ecuador: Palmoriente lost 10000 hectares  completely by Bud Rot (Sacha, Orellana, Ecuador).  Oil palm plantations carried out epidemiological, diagnostic, and monitoring of the disease for more than 30 years. Research made for agronomical practices (irrigation, soil management, Calcium amendments) as well as control measures (potential vectors, caging experiments covering adult palms completely, fungicide treatments, eradication of foci of the disease) were fruitless.  Crosses were made from Elaeis oleífera x Elaeis guineensis (OxG hybrids), and Elaeis guineensis x Elaeis guineensis (D x P Tenera hybrids) from survival plants of commercial plots. The idea was that maybe some male genitors should have certain degree of tolerance to Bud Rot. Interspecific hybrids OxG have shown tolerance, but low oil yield (15 – 19 % Oil Extraction Industrial Rate). The hypothesis of P. palmivora as causal agent has not been proved, due to lack of Koch's postulates accomplishment.

Best regards

Dear Douglas, Thank you for sent this link about the PC/AF. van Slobbe worked before Denpasa in Brazil in Suriname (Victoria) where she also described this disease. Another day an agricultural delegation from Suriname was here in Brazil and they told me that do not exist Oil Palm plantation in Suriname anymore. They call PC/Af as Spear rot there.  

Dear Carlos Carriel. Thank you so much for your report about PC/AF in Ecuador. Your words would be very similar  if I describe the situation about the investigation about AF in Brazil. It  was carried out by Denpasa/Embrapa in the  80 and 90. Nowadays mainly Marborges and but also some other oil palm companies in combination with Embrapa and Universities are still facing the challenge to discover the causal agent of AF/PC in Brazil.

I have read a "report" (La PC breve historia en el Ecuador)  wrote by Mayra Ronquillo where she concluded from some studies: "No se aisló a Phytophthora desde tejido de flecha y raíz. " . I will  probably be in Quito next month,  do you have some contact with people from Palmoriente ?  Im very interested to talk with them  about  the edaphic conditions of the Ecuadorian soils where Palmorient  lost  plantations and hopefully they want to share information and knowledge about this disease.  

Dear colleagues oil palm specialists or palmeros or dendezeiros ! Last year I was evaluating my experiments to control Bud Rot / PC/ AF as we called in Brazil. The experiments are located on  Para State whre  El Nino caused severe drought. .Some colleagues that are in duty to make the evaluation of AF symptoms  in oil palm leaves related AF however when  I went there I realized that was advanced symptoms caused by severe water deficiency. The palms are recovered this year as La Nina start to make this effects. This preambulo is to ask the oil palm specialist about publications or information about drought in oil palm. As we observed the bud rot  start with a severe root damaged it can be already expected drought symptoms. Anyway = People from Colombia or another country has some experiences on  effects of drought and symptons of water deficiency in oil palm ? Thanks in advance your comments. 

Wenceslau

Dear Wenceslau

This paper can be of help, the summary everything that has been done on this disease.

Hi Pérez the paper you mention you fogo tô cite 

Dear Dr Teixeira in this paper you can be able to find the state of art regarding P. palmivora 

Torres, G., Sarria, G. A., Martínez, G., Varón, F. H., Drenth, A., and Guest, D. 2016. Bud rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora: a destructive emerging disease of oil palm. Phytopathology. 320–329.

In addition, Cenipalma was able to prove the hypothesis of P. palmivora is the causal agent through the Koch’s postulates. When you identify very early symptoms of the disease you are able to find P. palmivora making the first lesions in the plant, and letting the window open for opportunistic pathogens  that show up in the following stages. 

Dear, Wenceslau. Sorry, The paper that you wanted to suggest was that timely Dr. Ayala mentioned above.

Dear Dr. Ayala, I thank you information about P. palmivora as it was discussed before,  it seems that P. palmivora is not the only cause of the typical AF/PC symptoms. For many years the Phytopathologists (from many Institutions and countries) have been looking for it in the oil palm plantations in Brazil and didn't  found it. I guess it maybe the situation also in Ecuador (see report - Mayra Ronquillo). I have heard that in the region of Tumaco the oil palm planters are still losing many hectares by PC/AF. Do you have informations about this region. I thanks in advance your attention. 

Kind regards from Brazil

Wenceslau Teixeira

PS - If you or someone also have information/results about the performance of the  variety called - El dourado - in relation to incidence of PC/AF Im very interested in these results/publications.

Dear colleagues interested in the research about AF/PC/Bud rot in Oil Palm.

I want to share with you some preliminary results with a "small experiment"  with oil palm growing in containers located in a plantation with high incidence of AF. In similar areas  E.guineensis replanted in similar areas shows AF typical symptoms in the first year.  Until now (we are in the third year) the palm in containers do not show AF symptoms only drought symptoms (probably because of the small volume of soil). If someone is conducting similar experiment and want to share informations - Please let me know. We are planning a net of this type of experiments in large vessels in "contaminated" AF areas

 Dear Dr Wenceslau, we are not conducting experiments but doing comparative proteomic analysis of E. guineensins affected or not by fatal yellowing. It would be interesting to analyze samples from plants under controled environments. My contact [email protected] , I would be pleased to share some ideas and preliminary results.  Best regards, . Rafael. 

Dear Rafael, thank for your interest and comment. Do you will attend the Oil Palm Seminar at Embrapa CPATU iin Belém, tomorrow ?

if yes,  then we can share ideas and hopefully do some research in cooperation.

We are also planning to test spectroradiometers (

http://www.asdi.com/products-and-services/fieldspec-spectroradiometers/fieldspec-4-standard-res) as a tool to diagnosis of AF 

Kind regards and hope to see you  tomorrow

Wenceslau 

[email protected]

Dear Wenceslau, 

From my point of view bud rot is a more danger disease by oil palm. My experience in Colombia showed the destructor potential by any oil palm production country. In some articles published in the 60's or 70's they described symptoms similar to those of BR in some African countries. In the case of Asia very possibly the genetic improvement has allowed to select genotypes with resistance to estra disease, however the fear to the introduction of this pathogen is imminent. Best regards, Carlos

The biggest threat to oil palm may be climate change, rather than disease. I have just published two papers on this. Also, climate change will affect diseases of oil palm. I published a paper on this in 2013. Anyone interested in them? 

Dr Paterson I am interested in your paper regarding "climate change effects on oil palm diseases", thank you

Hi,

Here is one. Not sure if it is the complete paper though. For the others maybe contact me at [email protected] and ask...

Article World climate suitability projections to 2050 and 2100 for g...

Ah, it's the disease one you want..

Hmm, the abstract to the World climate suitability projections paper of mine above is wrong. Don´t know how that happened. 

Dear Russel. In Brazil the last 3 years the main oil palm region is in a severe drought. The 'half full glass' in this situation is that the ocurrence of fatal yellowing decrease and many palms with symptons regained their productivity capacity