Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Armillaria root rot threatens Cameroon’s Penja pepper (Piper nigrum L.)

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Tropical Plant Pathology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Penja pepper (Piper nigrum) produced in Cameroon has long been recognized for its exceptional organoleptic quality. The pepper vine is grown using a support tree (Spondias mombin) in Cameroon. A root disease is associated with plant deaths in both plants. The disease symptoms are characterized by collar cracking and gummosis and the disease was tentatively identified as Armillaria root rot. In this work the extent of the problem was characterized by surveying 35 farms in Cameroon. Samples were taken from diseased support trees and pepper vines. Support trees exhibiting typical symptoms were found in approximately one third of the surveyed farms. In these farms, disease incidence and Pepper vine mortality ranged from 1.3 to 50% and 1.2 to 87.7%, respectively. Analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) locus suggested that the isolates collected from S. mombin and P. nigrum are most likely, which is a first for both hosts, represented by Armillaria camerunensis (Henn.) Volk & Burdsall, a fungus previously associated with declining cacao trees in Cameroon. Given the increasing demand for Penja pepper and the great damaging potential of this root rot, research on management strategies should be prioritized.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmad N, Fazal H, Abbasi H, Farooq S, Ali M, Ali Khan M (2012) Biological role of Piper nigrum L. (Black pepper): A review. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 2:S1945-S1953

  • Anandaraj M, Ramana KV, Sarma YR (1996) Sequential inoculation of Phytophthora capsici, Radopholus similis and Meloidogyne incognita in causing slow decline of black pepper. Indian Phytopathology 49:297–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardoso DE, Albuquerque FC (1979) Podridão radicular e tombamento de plântulas de pimenta-do-reino em videira causada por Pythium splendens. Fitopatologia Brasileira 4:17–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Coetzee MPA, Brenda D, Wingfield BP, Wingfield MJ (2005) Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences reveal species partitions amongst isolates of Armillaria from Africa. Mycological Research 109:1223–1234

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Costa SS, Moreira GM, Pfenning LH (2017) Development of a PCR protocol for the identification and detection of Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis from soil and roots of black pepper (Piper nigrum). Tropical Plant Pathology 42:55–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dade HA (1927) ‘Collar crack of cacao’: Armillaria mellea (Vahl.) Fr. Bulletin of Department of Agriculture Gold Coast. No. 5. 22p

  • Darriba D, Taboada GL, Doallo R, Posada D (2012) jModelTest 2: more models, new heuristics and parallel computing. Nature Methods 9:772

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Denman S, Coetzee MPA, Wingfield BD, Wingfield MJ, Crous PW (2000) Armillaria root rot. A new disease of cut- flower proteas in South Africa. Fynbos Research 33:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Faostat (2017) http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data (last Accessed 5/11/2019)

  • Ford KL, Henricot B, Baumgartner K, Bailey AM, Foster GD (2017) A faster inoculation assay for Armillaria using herbaceous plants. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 92:39–47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hennings P (1895) Fungi camerunenses I. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 22:72–111

    Google Scholar 

  • IPC (2017) http://www.ipcnet.org/index_n.php (last Accessed 5/11/2019)

  • Keuh TK (1990) Major diseases of black pepper and their management. Planter, Kuala Lumpur 66:59–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch RA, Wilson AW, Séné O, Henkel TW, Aime C (2017) Resolved phylogeny and biogeography of the root pathogen Armillaria and its gasteroid relative, Guyanagaster. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17:33

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mbodiam BR (2019) Investir au Cameroun : agriculture, l’avenir du poivre de Penja en peril à cause des bioagresseurs qui détruisent les plantations. Consulted on August 23, 2019 [on line] URL https:// www.investiraucameroun.com

  • Meghwal M, Goswami TK (2012) Chemical composition nutritional, medical and functional properties of black pepper: a review. 1:172. https://doi.org/10.4172/scientificreports.172

  • Miller MA, Pfeiffer W, Schwartz T (2010) Creating the CIPRES science gateway for inference of large phylogenetic trees in Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Environments Workshop (GCE), 14 Nov. 2010, New Orleans, LA pp 1–8 https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2016785 (last Accessed 13/11/2019)

  • Möller EM, Bahnweg G, Sandermann H, Geiger HH (1992) A simple and efficient protocol for isolation of high molecular weight DNA from filamentous fungi, fruit bodies, and infected plant tissues. Nucleic Acids Research 20:6115–6116

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Otieno W, Jeger M, Termorshuizen A (2003) Effect of infesting soil with Trichoderma harzianum and amendment with coffee pulp on survival of Armillaria. Biological Control 26:293–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petchayo TS, Mfegue VC, Nguefack J, Tchotet TJM, Begoude BAD, Ducamp M, Djeugap JF, Ten Hoopen GM (2015) Penja pepper under threat in Cameroon! Poster Presented at the 6th Congress of European microbiologists (FEMS 2015) 7-11 June 2015 in Maastricht, the Netherlands

  • Ramana KV, Santhosh JE (2000) Nematode induced diseases of black pepper. In: Ravindran PN (ed) Black pepper, Piper nigrum. CRC Press, Amsterdam, pp 269–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramana KV, Mohandas C, Balakrishnan R (1987) Role of plant parasitic nematodes in the slow wilt disease complex of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in Kerala. Indian Journl of Nematology 17:225–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravindran PN (2000) Black pepper, Piper nigrum L. CRC Press, Amsterdam, p 526

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rishbeth J (1980) Armillaria on cacao in Sao Tome. Tropical Agriculture 57:155–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Roux J, Coetzee MPA (2016) Armillaria root rot of Theobroma cacao. In: Bailey BA, Meinhardt LW (eds) Cacao diseases: a history of old enemies and new encounters. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp 429–447.

  • Roux J, Mbenoun M, Misse C, Coetzee MPA, Begoude DA, Wingfield MJ (2012) Molecular identification of Armillaria isolates associated with root-rot disease of cacao in Cameroon. 17th international Cocoa Research Congress (COPAL). 15-20 Oct. Yaoundé, Cameroon

  • Shahnazi S, Meon S, Vadamalai G, Ahmad K, Nejat N (2012) Morphological and molecular characterization of Fusarium spp. associated with yellowing disease of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in Malaysia. Journal of General Plant Pathology 78:160–169

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silvestro D, Michalak I (2012) raxmlGUI: a graphical front-end for RAxML. Organisms, Diversity and Evolution 12:335–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamatakis A (2006) RAxML-VI-HPC: maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses with thousands of taxa and mixed models. Bioinformatics 22:2688–2690

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tchotet Tchoumi JM, Coetzee MPA, Vivas M, Rajchenberg M, Roux J (2017) Wood-rotting basidiomycetes associated with declining native trees in timber-harvesting compartments of the garden route National Park of South Africa. Austral Ecology 42:947–963

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomidis T, Exadaktylou E (2012) Effectiveness of cyproconazole to control Armillaria root rot of apple, walnut and kiwifruit. Crop Protection 36:49–51

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Truong NV, Burgess LW, Liew ECY (2008) Prevalence and aetiology of Phytophthora foot rot of black pepper in Vietnam. Australasian Plant Pathology 37:431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White TJ, Bruns T, Lee S, Taylor J (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, New York, pp 315–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Worrall JJ (1991) Media for selective isolation of hymenomycetes. Mycologia 83:296–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worrall JJ (2004) Armillaria root disease. The Plant Health Instructor. American Phytopathological Society. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0706-01

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Penja Pepper Geographical Indication Group (IGPP) producers, in particular René Claude Metomo Elogo (President of Association) and Emmanuel Nzenowo (Executive Secretary) for allowing database and field access. We also thank Fokou Rodrigue, Diazem Clovis, Tocké, Ngonga Florian, and Njonkam Ferdinand, agricultural technicians who assisted in the surveys. Funding and resources were provided by CIRAD, IRAD, the University of Pretoria and through the “Debt reduction-development contract (C2D) France Cameroon” Poivre de Penja project. The authors were free to publish any or all results originating from their work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Sandrine Petchayo Tigang & Julienne Nguefack

  2. Institute for Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), P.O. box 2067, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Sandrine Petchayo Tigang, Aime Didier Begoude Boyogueno, Michael Mbenoun, Crescence Virginie Mfegue, Salomon Nyassé, Michel Ndoumbé Nkeng & Gerben Martijn ten Hoopen

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa

    James Michel Tchotet Tchoumi

  4. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa

    Jolanda Roux

  5. Centre Africain de Recherches sur Bananiers et Plantains (CARBAP), B.P. 832, Douala, Bonanjo, Cameroon

    Michel Ndoumbé Nkeng

  6. CIRAD, UPR Bioagresseurs, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Bioagresseurs, Univ. Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France

    Gerben Martijn ten Hoopen

Authors
  1. Sandrine Petchayo Tigang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James Michel Tchotet Tchoumi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jolanda Roux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Julienne Nguefack
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Aime Didier Begoude Boyogueno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Michael Mbenoun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Crescence Virginie Mfegue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Salomon Nyassé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Michel Ndoumbé Nkeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Gerben Martijn ten Hoopen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization: Petchayo TS, M Ndoumbé Nkeng, GM ten Hoopen; Methodology: Petchayo TS, JM Tchotet Tchoumi, M Ndoumbé Nkeng, GM ten Hoopen; Investigation: Petchayo TS, JM Tchotet Tchoumi, M. Mbenoun, GM ten Hoopen; Formal analysis: Petchayo TS, JM Tchotet Tchoumi, J Roux, M Mbenoun, M Ndoumbé Nkeng, GM ten Hoopen; Resources: J Roux, GM ten Hoopen; Funding acquisition: CV Mfegue, GM ten Hoopen; Project administration: S Nyassé; Supervision: J Nguefack, BAD Begoude, GM ten Hoopen; Writing original draft: Petchayo TS, GM ten Hoopen; Manuscript revision: Petchayo TS, GM ten Hoopen, M Mbenoun, JM Tchotet Tchoumi, J Roux. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandrine Petchayo Tigang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Petchayo Tigang, S., Tchotet Tchoumi, J.M., Roux, J. et al. Armillaria root rot threatens Cameroon’s Penja pepper (Piper nigrum L.). Trop. plant pathol. 45, 534–543 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-020-00361-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-020-00361-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation