Fusarium wilt of tomato

Tomato wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici is a serious disease which causes heavy crop losses worldwide. Several management options, including using plant resistant varieties, balanced nitrogen fertilizer, four year crop rotation, soil fumigation and soil solarization have been suggested to control the disease (Ioannou et al., 2000). In Palestinian agriculture, Fusarium wilt is a serious disease of greenhouses and open field crops ( Barakat and Al Masri, 2011). The disease management is very difficult due to its endophytic growth and persistence in soil. It has become one of the most damaging diseases wherever tomatoes are grown intensively due to the pathogen persistence in the infested soils (Soytong, 2007).

The disease was initially described by Massee in 1890; walker, 1971 and Jones and Woltz (1981). The disease occurs in at least 32 countries, and in most of tomato-growing regions of the world. The causal fungus is one of the most important genera of plant pathogenic fungi with a record of devastating various economically important plants (Messian et al., 1991; Armstrong and Armstrong, 1981).