Efficacy of Hendersonia on the growth of seedlings of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and Ganoderma disease control: A field-based study using GanoEF biofertilizer at Medan, Indonesia

Abstract

The present study aimed to test the efficiency of Hendersonia GanoEF biofertilizer against Ganoderma disease in the seedlings of oil palm (OP) Elaeis guineensis, and was carried out from February 2020 – January 2021 in Pulo Mandi Garden Nursery, at Medan, Indonesia. Experimental set up followed a completely randomized design with four treatments. Observation results showed that the percentage of root colonization by Hendersonia sp. in OP roots reached an average of 70.6% in the treatment with Ganoderma inoculation, and an average of 69.6% in the treatment without Ganoderma inoculation. The GanoEF treatment provided higher growth of seedlings and faster growth of bowl diameter when the seedlings were 9 months old. Three instances of GanoEF application had high potential to inhibit the development of Ganoderma on OP seedlings. Endophytic fungi Hendersonia sp. was capable of symbiosis with OP roots with a colonization rate reaching 70.6%. Disease incidence or percentage of plants infected with Ganoderma in GanoEF treatment reached 20.4% which was significantly (P<0.05) lower than under the control treatment (44.2%). Meanwhile, the level of severity of Ganoderma disease in seedlings with GanoEF treatment reached 5.23% which was significantly (P<0.05) lower than the control treatment (11.1%). The efficacy of Hendersonia GanoEF as a biocontrol method for the OP pathogen G. boninense to control the basal stem rot of E. guineensis seedlings was well proven in this field study.