Bayoud disease causes considerable damage that can sometimes take on spectacular proportions when the disease presents its violent epidemic aspect. The causal organism responsible for Bayoud is a microscopic fungus which belongs to mycoflora of the soil and is named Fusarium oxysporum forma specialis albedinis. Bayoud has destroyed in one century more than twelve million palms in Morocco and three million in Algeria. Bayoud destroyed the world's most renowned varieties that are susceptible to the disease and particularly those which produce high quality and quantity fruit (Medjool, Deglet-Nour, and Bou-Fegouss). It also accelerated the phenomenon of desertification. The result is an influx of farmers who have abandoned their land and moved to large urban centers.

We have developed new transgenic Date-Palms that are resistant to Bayoud disease. Through gene pyramiding, our novel genetically improved Date-Palms express several transgenes that inhibit growth and kill the fungal causal agent of Bayoud disease - (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis). Fruits of these transgenic Date-Palms are completely safe because introduced transgenes that control this fungus are expressed only in vegetative tissues.