Zahra Amjadi, Farideh Farahbakhsh, Zahra Zinati, Habiballah Hamzezarghani,
Volume 14, Issue 1 (2-2025)
Date fruits are rich in carbohydrates, energy, fiber, vitamins, nutritional elements, and are consumed as a staple or supplementary food in several countries. Iran is the second-largest producer of dates globally, and this fruit serves as a significant source of income for orchard owners and exporters. Numerous limiting factors affect date production, among which fungi, oomycetes, and phytoplasmas are the most critical biological agents causing damage. Effective management of these pathogens requires modern and sustainable approaches. The most important date palm diseases reported from Iran and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa include: Decline, black scorch, Pestalotiopsis and Graphiola leaf spots, spathe rot or Khamj, and yellow stripe disease. The symptoms of these diseases and novel integrated management methods, such as orchard sanitation, optimized fertilization, the use of AI-equipped drones for diseases monitoring, advanced technologies like genome editing to develop resistant cultivars, and biological and chemical control strategies, are illustrated and discussed in this article.
