Fungus, molds behind durian harvest drop

FOR the last three years, the Phytophthora palmivora has caused decline of durian harvest in Davao Region by about 10 percent and the disease continues to be one of the challenges that the industry is facing.

In an interview with Davao Industry Council of Davao City (DICDC) chair Larry Miculob, he said that the P. palmivora is a disease usually acquired by durian trees through molds and fungus.

“It has really a high level of destruction in Davao City as compared to the insects because with insects, it is easier to control but with Phytophthora palmivora, it is more difficult especially this is an airborne disease,” he said.

As P. palmivora does not only affect the durian fruits but the entire tree, Miculob said this resulted to a total loss of production. To counter the problem, the durian growers in Davao City are using Aliette Fungicide especially after rainfall. He said the more it rains, the higher the chance of P. palmivora-fungi accumulating and eating up the trees and the fruits.

Miculob recommends that the durian plantation should have good irrigation to avoid building up of fungus on the roots of the durian trees.

As this disease is a continuing challenge to the industry, the Department of Agriculture Davao Region, through their Regional Crop Protection Center, has conducted a research last year on the ideal durian variety that would be resistant to P. palmivora. Their research had stated that the Puyat variety is the most resistant as compared to the other existing varieties.

This study was done by Marilou Infante, Myrna Cantila, and Gloria Vida. They found out that Puyat has very minimum cases of black lining traces as compared to the Monthong variety. With this, it makes the Puyat variety an ideal rootstock material.

In this study, other durian samples noted to also be tolerant of P. palmivora are Balodo 3, Benelayo 1, Galbizo, Balodo 2, Ramos 1, Rala 3, Pineda 1, BPI 4, BPI 5, Rala 4, and Catiempo. Durian samples that were recognized to be susceptible to the disease, aside from Monthong, were Balodo 6, BPI 2, BPI 1, Bacus, and Rala 2.

DICDC, for its part, continues to encourage durian growers to plant durian varieties that are proven to be tolerant of the disease.