Major threats to agricultural sustainability in the 21st century are drought, increasing temperatures, soil salinity and soilborne pathogens, all of which are being exacerbated by climate change and pesticide abolition and are burning issues related to agriculture in the Middle East. We have found that Class 2 fungal endophytes adapt native plants to environmental stresses (drought, heat and salt) in a habitat-specific manner, and that these endophytes can confer stress tolerance to genetically distant monocot and eudicot hosts. In the past, we generated a uv non-pathogenic endophytic mutant of Colletotrichum magna (path-1) that colonized cucurbits, induced drought tolerance and enhanced growth, and protected 85% - 100% against disease caused by certain pathogenic fungi. We propose: 1) utilizing path-1 and additional endophtyic microorganisms to be isolated from stress-tolerant local, wild cucurbit watermelon, Citrulluscolocynthis, growing in the Dead Sea and Arava desert areas, 2) generate abiotic and biotic tolerant melon crop plants, colonized by the isolated endophytes, to increase crop yields under extreme environmental conditions such as salinity, heat and drought stress, 3) manage soilborne fungal pathogens affecting curubit crop species growing in the desert areas. This is a unique and novel "systems" approach that has the potential to utilize natural plant adaptation for agricultural development. We envisage that endophyte-colonized melons will eventually be used to overcome damages caused by soilborne diseases and also for cultivation of this crop, under stress conditions, utilizing treated waste water, thus dealing with the limited resource of fresh water.
PRELIMINARY SCREENING OF INSECT PATHOGENIC FUNGI FOR BROWN CITRUS APHID CONTROL, 1997
