The mycobiota of soil from date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) plantations in Elche, SE Spain was examined using 23 soil samples and five isolation methods. One hundred and nineteen species assigned to 67 genera were isolated. The most frequent species were in decreasing order: Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, Neosartorya spinosa, Thielaviopsis punctulata, Chaetomium bostrychodes, Gilmaniella macrospora, Aspergillus candidus, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus microsporus, Sordaria fimicola, Aspergillus terreus, Chaetomium murorum, Fusarium solani, Mucor racemosus, Penicillium citrinum and Thielaviopsis paradoxa. The thermotolerant and thermophilic species of Malbranchea cinnamomea, Myriococcum thermophilum, Rhizomucor miehei, Scytalidium thermophilum, Talaromyces emersonii, Thermoascus aurantiacus and Thermomyces lanuginosus were detected in various frequencies of occurrence. Our findings are compared with those from a similar survey of soil from date palm plantations in Iraq. Our study indicates that there is no characteristic mycobiota for soil in date palm plantations except for the more frequent isolation of some species well known as pathogens on date palm.
Abdullah S. K., Monfort E., Asensio L., Salinas J., Lopez Llorca L. V., Jansson H. B. (2010): Soil mycobiota of date palm plantations in Elche, SE Spain. – Czech Mycology 61(2): 149–162.
