METABOLOMICS UNRAVEL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CAMEROON Dura AND DELI Dura OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) GENETIC BACKGROUNDS AGAINST BASAL STEM ROT

Abstract

Metabolomics is emerging as a powerful tool for screening of metabolites in both phenotyping and diagnostic analyses in plants. Metabolomics coupled with multivariate statistical analysis has provided a fast and unbiased comparative investigation of the metabolite composition in oil palm root. Basal stem rot (BSR) caused by the white rot fungus, Ganoderma boninense is a common (MPOB, 2016). However, the palm is susceptible to various pests and diseases, the most serious in South-east Asia being basal stem rot (BSR) by the white rot fungus, Ganoderma boninense (Cooper et al., 2011;Paterson et al., 2009; Idris et al., 2004a). Integrated control using chemical and biological means has been tried against the disease (Sundram, 2013;Sundram et al., 2008;Susanto et al., 2005; Idris et al., 2004b) but with at most limited success. Resistance to BSR is only partial (Idris et al., 2004a) and the disease management is complicated by the presence of different species of Ganoderma with various degrees of aggressiveness with the dominant species varying in different localities (Wong et al., 2012).The disease triangle -the concept of a disease caused by the trinity of a pathogen attacking a DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2017DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr. .2902 227