R. Samiyappan et al., DIAGNOSIS FOR EARLY DETECTION OF GANODERMA DISEASES IN PERENNIAL CROPS - APPROACHES AND PROSPECTS, Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz, 103(1), 1996, pp. 85-93
In perennial crops like coconut, arecanut, oil palm, casuarina, Eucaly
ptus, Delonix, fig, rubber and mango, Ganoderma spp., viz. G. lucidum,
G. applanatum, G. boninense cause basal stem rot or wilt or root rot
diseases. The pathogen is a soil-borne fungus and causes significant d
amage to the crops, eventually leading to heavy loss in production in
the tropical Asia. The pathogen rakes several months to express diseas
e symptoms, therefore, early detection of the disease is needed to man
age the disease effectively. Unfortunately currently available methods
are not having any direct relationship with the Ganoderma pathogenesi
s, hence alternative diagnostic methods which are highly sensitive are
required. Molecular diagnostic techniques, viz. serology (both polycl
onal and monoclonal antibodies), nucleic acid hybridisation and polyme
rase chain reaction, and their applications and advantages over the ex
isting ones are discussed.