Control of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. albedinis
Strict quarantine control of potentially infected plant material and soil is the first priority. EPPO (OEPP/EPPO, 1990) recommends that date-producing countries should prohibit the importation of the following from countries where F. oxysporum f.sp. albedinis is present: i) all date palm material (offshoots, leaves, handicrafts, etc., but not fruits); ii) soil and plants for planting (with roots, cuttings) accompanied by soil; and iii) plants for planting of Lawsonia inermis (except seeds).
Some success has been achieved in selecting resistant cultivars from amongst the natural palm population and in breeding trials. The low level of genetic variation found in the pathogen suggests that improved, rapid and specific detection methods based on molecular techniques may be relatively easy to develop for quarantine purposes and that resistance breeding could be accurately targeted.
Moroccan and Algerian soils vary in their suppressiveness to F. oxysporum f.sp. albedinis. The addition of suppressive soil may improve the effectiveness of replanting programmes. A practical integrated control strategy for application in Algeria is discussed by Brac de la Perriere et al. (1995).