Taxonomy and pathogenicity of fungal strains isolated from date palm in the region of Ghardaia

Abstract

The current research has two main objectives: firstly, the identification and taxonomy of several fungal strains isolated from date palms causing different pathological symptoms in the Ghardaia region; secondly, the evaluation of their pathogenicity on date palm seedlings. To this end, sixteen (16) fungal isolates were subjected first to morphological identification (macroscopic and microscopic) and then to molecular analysis by DNA sequencing of the ITS region. Pathogenicity was assessed on date palm seedlings two to four months old. The results showed that most of the isolates belonged to the genus Alternaria, represented by sixteen isolates grouped in four species, namely A. alternata, A. cumini, A. infectoria and A. malorum. Different ranges of pathogenic ability were shown by our isolates on date palm seedlings, with A. alternata being the most pathogenic and A. malorum the least pathogenic.