Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds for detection of Ganoderma infection in Oil Palm

Abstract

Basal Stem Rot (BSR) is one of the major diseases affecting the oil palm in South East Asia. The failure in BSR controls may due to the inability of plantation personnels to identify the infected palms at the early stage of infection and take the necessary action. Some current available diagnostic tools have been developed for the early diagnosis of Ganoderma infection such as Ganoderma Selective Media (GSM), Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and quantifying ergosterol using HPLC showed various degree of accuracy, speed and practicability. Recently, there is research interest on the difference Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) being released during the Ganoderma infection which potential to be developed as biomarkers for early detection of the infection. Therefore, a quick, reliable and simple early detection method towards this direction is very crucial to be developed for a successful management of this disease. This paper discusses the relation between the colour of trunk tissues infected with BSR disease with their severity and VOCs being released.