Basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palm is a disease caused by a few species of Genoderma (Idris et al., 2000a, b). It is a major disease inflicting significant losses in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia (Turner and Gillbanks, 2003). The disease causes the death of more than 80% of oil palm plantings midway through their economic life. Fungicidal treatment of Ganoderma infectef palms show visible symptoms of the disease, the infection is already firmly established. Trials with triazole fungicides injected into palm stems and disease lesions have been shown to prolong the lives of disease standing palm rather than curing them of the disease. A carboxin-quintozene mixture appeared to be effective through trunk injection, prologing the lives of about 91% of the palms by 69 months after treatment (George et al, 1996). It was also noted that cyproconazole was able to sustain 97% of the Ganoderma-infected palms. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has demonstrated that the application of hexaconazole onto diseased standing palms using a trunk injector within the palm trunk (Idris et al., 2002; 2004).

Main Research: Dr Idris Abu Seman