Molecular Identification of Fusarium Species Associated with the Tissue Culture Date Palm Offshoots Wilt Disease and Evaluation of Using Silver Nanoparticles and Trichoderma longibrachiatum for Its Control

Fayyadh, M.A., A.O. Manea and Y.A. Salih. 2024. Molecular Identification of Fusarium Species Associated with the Tissue Culture Date Palm Offshoots Wilt Disease and Evaluation of Using Silver Nanoparticles and Trichoderma longibrachiatum for Its Control. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 42(2): 189-195. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001225 This study was conducted during the period 2019-2021 with the aim of isolating and identifying the fungi associated with the tissue culture date palm offshoots wilt disease planted in permanent orchards. Molecular identification of Fusarium isolates based on amplification and nucleotide sequencing of the ITS1-ITS4 gene region showed that isolate F1 and F7 were identical to F. proliferatum with a similarity level of 100 and 98%, respectively; isolates F3 and F4 were identical to F. fujikuroi with a similarity level of 99.8 and 100%, respectively. As for isolate F6, it was 94.8% similar with F. solani. The sequences of the identified isolates were deposited in the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) under the numbers OM535259.1, OM535261.1, OM535264.1, OM535265.1 and OM535266.1, respectively. The results also showed that silver nanoparticles inhibited the growth of all tested fungi, and the inhibition rate range was 50- 70%. On the other hand, the bio-control fungus T. longibrachiatum caused growth inhibition of all tested fungi with an inhibition rate of more than 80%. Keywords: Date palm, wilt, molecular identification, nanosiliver particles