Ganoderma Diseases of Tropical Crops

The fungal genus Ganoderma includes around 80 currently recognized species that are widely distributed in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions, and cause disease in a range of economically important perennial crops and tree-like plants.

Ganoderma root and lower stem rots have a significant impact on yields from crops including oil palm, coconut, beverage crops, Acacia and rubber. The identification of species responsible for stem and butt rots is often ambiguous as closely related species may only be distinguished by subtle morphological differences. Within species there can be considerable morphological plasticity and this can make morphology-based identification difficult, particularly for species described from a single specimen. Molecular techniques are helping to slowly resolve

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