Ganoderma diversity from smallholder oil palm plantations in peatlands of Kampar District, Indonesia based on mycelia morphology and somatic incompatibility

Hamzah A, Saputra R, Puspita F, Nasrul B, Irfandri, Depari NS. 2021. Ganoderma diversity from smallholder oil palm plantations in peatlands of Kampar District, Indonesia, based on mycelia morphology and somatic incompatibility. Biodiversitas 22: 16-22. Basal Stem Rot disease is caused by the pathogenic fungus Ganoderma boninense which has caused major economic losses in the palm oil industry. Ganoderma boninense has been reported not only infecting crops in the field, but also attacking at the immature phase of the plant even in the nursery. Studies related to Ganoderma diversity in oil palm plantations in Riau, Indonesia have not been widely reported. Ganoderma genetic diversity is important because its provide information regarding the mechanism of infection and the spatial distribution. The Ganoderma spp. isolates were collected from three blocks of smallholder oil palm plantation in Deli Makmur Village, Kampar District, Riau Province, Indonesia and brought to Plant Disease Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Riau University, Pekanbaru, Indonesia. This experimental research was conducted using six Ganoderma isolates (Gan1, Gan2, Gan3, Gan4, Gan5, and Gan6) on the parameters of colony diameter and growth speed, while for the parameters of the morphological diversity of Ganoderma mycelium and the diversity based on somatic incompatibility assay was carried out descriptively. The results of this study show that oil palm plants in smallholder plantations in Kampar District are infected by two groups of Ganoderma based on morphology characteristics using UPGMA dendrogram, but different among isolates based on genetically using somatic incompatibility assay. For the next confirmation, it is necessary to further identify whether the six isolates are different species using molecular identification.