Preliminary study of canker disease for development of urban tree health standard in Malaysia

Abstract

Canker disease (CD) mainly infected trees planted in urban areas in Malaysia. This disease is caused by several plant pathogens and may cause tree death and tree failure. The aims of this study are to identify tree species which are susceptible to canker diseases and to identify the causal agents especially plant pathogens of the disease. To perform the study, a survey on planted trees in several urban parks and sites in Malaysia were conducted. In this study, the Canker Disease (CD) assessment procedure was developed and modified from Thousand Cankers Disease Survey Guidelines by the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA). Later, the assessment procedure was improved based on surveys in the ground to fit and get the best quality of data from the observations. As a result, several canker diseases were identified on twenty-three (23) trees, the species were, Acacia sp, Bucida molineti, Cinnamomum iners, Citrus sp, Eucalyptus urograndis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus sp, Khaya grandifoliola, Mangifera indica, Manilkara zapota, Mimusops elengi, Peltophorum indicus, Samanea saman, Swietenia macrophylla, Swietenia spicifera, Tabebuia argentea, Terminalia catappa, Terminalia mantaly, Araucaria heterophylla, Casuarina equisetifolia, Gymnostoma sumatrana and Polyalthia longifolia. Based on symptom development the canker diseases known as Sphaeropsis canker, Cryphonectria canker, Chrysoporthe canker, Biscogniauxia canker, Hypoxylon canker, Cypress canker, Nectria canker, Ceratocystis Wilt, Pink disease, and Slime flux disease. This study can be the starting point in developing the Canker Disease (CD) Assessment Standard in Malaysia. It is important for Malaysia to have a Canker Disease (CD) Assessment Standard in order to become a guideline for future study or research that specifies canker disease towards common trees planted in Malaysia especially the urban areas.