TENTATIVE IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGAL ISOLATES ASSOSIATED WITH AQUILLARIA SPP. FROM REMAINING FOREST AREAS IN NUNUKAN REGENCY, NORTH KALIMANTAN

Aquillaria spp. is one kind of tree that generates agarwood as a non timber forest product. Agarwood is formed due to the pathological process as respond to fungal infection. The research took samples from stem of Aquillaria spp. that formed agarwood naturally, at 4 districts in Nunukan regency: South Nunukan, Lumbis, Krayan Induk and South Krayan. The research aimed to identify the kinds of fungi that able to induce agarwood formation on stem of Aquillaria spp. The 9 fungal isolates were observed for their morphology on PDA and BLA growth media, and identified according to Leslie and Summerell (2006). The result indicated that based on their morphological characters, 9 isolates were identified as Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, F. lateritium, F. comfactum, and Fusarium spp. Further identification will be done by molecular character using SSU, LSU and ITS primers.