The Use of Endophyte Beauveria Bassiana for Bio-protection of Date Palm Seedlings against Red Palm Weevil and Rhizoctonia Root-Rot Disease

(Yousef Al-Arab and Hatem Mohamed El-Deeb)

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Abstract

Ten Beauveria bassiana local strains were isolated from cadavers of different date palm insects, then screened enzymatically to select the highest virulent isolate. Two-week old axenically date palm seedlings were grown in petri-dishes and subjected to direct injection with two rates of Beauveria bassiana spore suspension (0.5 x 107 or 1.5 x 107 spores/ml). The endophytic fungus was recovered from sites distant from the point of inoculation 6 months after application. This indicate that the fungus has the potential to move throughout the plant tissues. One week after endophytic colonization, date palm seedlings were infected with the pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. The treated seedlings exhibited 70.6% reduction of root rot disease incidence. On the other hand, date palm pulp of the endophytically colonized seedlings was used in a laboratory diet for the larvae of the red palm weevil (RPW). The larval mortality during 14 days achieved 80.3 %, under laboratory conditions. Key Words: Beauveria bassiana, Date-palm root-rot, Endophytes, Induced disease resistance, Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), Rhizoctonia solani,.
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