Biological Control Against Bayoud Disease of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) using Antagonistic Fungi Species: Antibios and Mycoparasitism Studies

Fusarium wilt of date palm, also known as bayoud disease, is major disease in Algeria and Morocco. In this work, we studied a biological control of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis, the causal agent of bayoud disease by using of an antagonistic fungi species (AFS), (Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Trichoderma harzianum, T. aureoviride and T. longibachiatum), for biological control test by antibiosis and mycoparasitism actions. We showed the antibiosis action by the inhibition of mycelial growth and sporulation inhibitions, and the mycoparasitism action by cytological alteration of Foa mycelia. All five antagonistic fungi showed significant effect (P 0.05), of inhibition toward mycelial growth of Foa (60-75 %), and its sporulation (80-85 % of the control). The mycoparasitism action observed by AFS secretions of the anti-fungal lytic enzymes, chitinase and -1, 3-Glucanase, and also by microscopic observation showed clearly this action by coagulation and alteration of Foa mycelium and appearance of large vacuoles.