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Antagonistic Activities of Metschnikowia pulcherrima Isolates Against Penicillium expansum on Amasya Apples

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Abstract

Postharvest fungal diseases cause serious fruit losses and food safety issues worldwide. The trend in preventing food loss and waste has shifted to environmentally friendly and sustainable methods, such as biological control. Penicillium expansum is a common postharvest contaminant fungus that causes blue mould disease and patulin formation on apples. This study aimed to provide biocontrol using Metschnikowia pulcherrima isolates against P. expansum, and to understand their antagonistic action mechanisms. In vitro, 38.77–51.69% of mycelial growth inhibition of P. expansum was achieved by M. pulcherrima isolates with the dual culture assay, while this rate was 69.45–84.89% in the disc diffusion assay. The disease symptoms of P. expansum on wounds were reduced by M. pulcherrima, on Amasya apples. The lesion diameter, 41.84 mm after 12 d of incubation in control, was measured as 24.14 mm when treated with the most effective M. pulcherrima DN-MP in vivo. Although the antagonistic mechanisms of M. pulcherrima isolates were similar, there was a difference between their activities. In general, DN-HS and DN-MP isolates were found to be more effective. In light of all these results, it can be said that M. pulcherrima isolates used in the study have an antagonistic effect against the growth of P. expansum both in vitro and in vivo in Amasya apples, therefore, when the appropriate formulation is provided, they can be used as an alternative biocontrol agent to chemical fungicides in the prevention of postharvest diseases.

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  1. Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34469, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Emine Gizem Acar, Dilara Nur Dikmetas, Dilara Devecioglu, Elif Mehves Ozer, Huseyin Sarikece & Funda Karbancioglu-Guler

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Emine Gizem Acar, Dilara Nur Dikmetas, Dilara Devecioglu: Investigation, Validation, Methodology, Resources, Writing—original draft; Elif Mehves Ozer, Huseyin Sarikece: Investigation, Methodology. Funda Karbancioglu-Guler: Supervision, Project administration, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Funda Karbancioglu-Guler.

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Acar, E.G., Dikmetas, D.N., Devecioglu, D. et al. Antagonistic Activities of Metschnikowia pulcherrima Isolates Against Penicillium expansum on Amasya Apples. Curr Microbiol 81, 180 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-024-03700-1

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