The invention relates to a fungicidal composition for plants and a method of preparing said composition.  The invention is particularly useful to control the spread of basal stem rot disease of plants caused by fungus.  In palms, the main causal agent of basal stem rot disease is the fungus Ganoderma species.  This is a major agricultural problem, particularly in oil palm and coconut plantations.  It can cause between 50% to 60% mortality in palm population in seriously affected areas within ten to twelve years of attack.  A 30% to 70% of disease incidence can cause losses as high as 25% to 45% in fresh fruit bunch yield.  This translates to millions in lost revenue.

Ganoderma species attacks start from the palm roots and graduallyspread to the bole of the stem, causing dry rot, thus preventing nutrients from being absorbed by the soft tissues.  The palm will gradually lose its ability to produce fruits and eventually collapse.  One feature of Ganderma spp. is the persistence of the pathogens in infected woody tissues and soil borne debris allowing the disease to reappear in oil palm estates which are doing their second or even third replanting.

It is critical to conserve the present oil palm land by controlling the spread of the disease.  Towards this end, we have pioneered a product by the name of BioGuard™ capable of fighting the disease.  The product is a carefully selected cocktail of indigenous microbes which has antagonistic capabilities towards Ganderma spp. and when applied to the soil around the infected palm, the microbes are most virulent and quickly spread to control and inhibit the growth of the stem rot disease casual agent.