Date Palms Beat Fusarium With Compost Tea

In Vitro Evaluation of Compost Extracts Efficiency as Biocontol Agent of Date Palm Fusarium Wilt
African Journal of Microbiology Research
August 2017
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    In Morocco, Fusarium Wilt is called Bayoud, and a group of researchers want to keep it from wreaking havoc on its date palms industry.  To  do this, they investigated what affect compost tea extract had on lab grown Fusarium oxysporum albendinis.
     Researchers used tea extracts from chicken manure compost, and olive mill waste.  The finished composts were liquefied, some of which was sterilized and some was not.  Then, the researchers applied 5 different concentrations (10-40%) of teas to petri dishes, and then set an actively growing Fusarium colony on the dish.  The petri dishes were incubated for eight days.  The growth of the Fusarium's mycelium was measured from the center of the colony on outward (the longer the mycelium, the less effective the compost extract).  The researchers found that the sterilized tea only worked at the highest concentration, but the non-sterilized tea was EFFECTIVE AT ALL CONCENTRATIONS.   Fusarium growth was inhibited from 20%-97% as compared to the control group that had no compost extract applied.  The higher concentration of tea, the less the Fusarium was able to grow.  Considering the low cost of compost tea, this research is great information for any small farmer looking to become more efficient, while also being eco-friendly.   Thanks Morocco!!! 

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