REVIEW ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 34 (3) September 2022, p. 401-410

CHAMPIONING SUSTAINABLE TREATMENT OF OIL PALM BASAL STEM ROT DISEASE VIA BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS

LAI KIM YEN1* and NUSAIBAH SYD ALI1*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2021.0003
Received: 4 January 2020   Accepted: 2 November 2020   Published Online: 7 January 2021
ABSTRACT

Oil palm is the most important commodity crop for Malaysia and Indonesia. However, it is being threatened by a disease identified as basal stem rot (BSR) caused by Ganoderma spp. Common approaches such as chemical and cultural control have failed to demonstrate total effectiveness in controlling BSR disease. Nevertheless, these practices cause detrimental effects on the environment. Therefore, the attention on adopting biological control agents (BCA) as one of the sustainable methods to eradicate and control BSR disease is on the rise. The current review highlights on the attempts and outcome of applying various BCA such as fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes as single or mixed application to control BSR disease in oil palm.

KEYWORDS:


1 Department of Plant Protection,
Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: nusaibah@upm.edu.my