Identification of fungi in Tunisian olive orchards: characterization and biological control potential
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Identification of fungi in Tunisian olive orchards: characterization and biological control potential Houda Gharsallah1*, Ines Ksentini1, Sourour Naayma1, Karama Hadj Taieb1,2, Nour Abdelhedi1, Christina Schuster3,4, Mohamed Ali Triki1, Mohieddine Ksantini1 and Andreas Leclerque3,4
Abstract Background: Olive production is the main agricultural activity in Tunisia. The diversity of fungi was explored in two different olive groves located in two distant geographical zones in Sfax (Tunisia) with different management practices. Results: Fungal isolation was made from soil and the major olive tree pests, namely the Olive fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Diptera: Tephritidae), and the Olive psyllid, Euphyllura olivina Costa (Homoptera: Psyllidae). A total of 34 fungal isolates were identified according to their phenotypic, genotypic, biochemical and biological activities. Twenty fungal species were identified belonging to six different genera (Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Lecanicillium and Penicillium) by the analysis of their ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 ribosomal DNA region. Different bioassays performed in this work revealed that 25/34 (73.5%) of the identified fungal isolates showed an entomopathogenic and/or antagonistic activity, 9/34 (26.5%) of them displayed phytopathogenic features. Conclusions: Fungal species that showed entomopathogenic and/or antagonistic potentialities and that are nonphytopathogenic, (17/34; 50%) of our fungal isolates, could be explored for olive protection against fungal diseases and pests, and might have a future application as biocontrol agents. Keywords: Biological control, Fungi, Insect pests, Antagonism, Phytopathogenicity, Entomopathogenicity
Background Biological control is an often effective and environmentally friendly method for controlling pests and phytopathogens by a natural enemy and/or formulation. Some of these biological control methods as, e.g., combating insect pest species by pathogens and plant diseases by antagonists, were found efficient [1–3]. However, effectiveness is strongly related to the biological control agent’s origin, with native ones being more efficient and often achieve better results [4, 5]. Thus, it is important to ensure that the screening for insect pest pathogens * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Laboratory of Improvement and Protection of Genetic Resources of Olive Tree, Tunisian Olive Institute, University of Sfax, Airport Road, P.B. 1087, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
and phytopathogenic antagonists is done in their original spreading areas. The olive tree, Olea europaea L. (Equisetopsida, Lamiales), cultivation is among the important crops in the world [6]. Widespread areas are occupied by olive groves in the Mediterranean basin countries including Tunisia which ranks in the fourth position in terms of virgin olive oil production [6, 7]. In Tunisia, with approximately 8.5 million olive trees spreading over almost 1.7 million ha, Sfax gov
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