Abstract
The essential oil, citral, has potential for non-conventional control of postharvest diseases of citrus caused by Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum and Geotrichum citri-aurantii. Citral in volatile phase has been shown to inhibit the three pathogens in vitro. The effect of citral applied as a fumigant on the incidence of disease on navel oranges (Citrus sinensis) was therefore studied. Fumigation of oranges with citral (20, 60 or 150 mL L−1 in absorbent pads) in a closed system, following application of conidia (20 μL of 106 conidia mL−1) to puncture wounds, delayed the onset of sour rot at room temperature by 7–10 days and at 5 °C, by 13–30 days, but had limited effect on blue and green mould. Blue and green mould developed faster on oranges wounded by puncture than by abrasion and volatile citral delayed the development of blue mould in abraded, but not punctured, oranges stored at 5 °C. Phytotoxicity symptoms were observed on the upper surface of some fruit close to or in direct contact with citral-soaked pads at concentrations of 60 and 150 mL L−1. Citral residue was not detected in the rind of fumigated oranges. Volatile citral applied at 60 mL L−1 appeared to have potential for the control of sour rot, although phytotoxicity was associated with high concentrations of volatile citral.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ammon DG, Barton AFM, Clarke DA, Tjandra J (1985) Rapid and accurate determination of terpenes in the leaves of Eucalyptus species. Analyst 110:921–924
Ben-Yehoshua S, Rodov V (2006) Developing a novel environmentally friendly microbiocidal formulation from peel of citrus fruit. Acta Horticult 712:275–284
Ben-Yehoshua S, Rodov V, Kim JJ, Carmeli S (1992) Preformed and induced antifungal materials of citrus fruit in relation to the enhancement of decay resistance by heat and ultraviolet treatment. J Agric Food Chem 40:1217–1221
Ben-Yehoshua S, Rodov V, Fang DQ, Kim JJ (1995) Preformed antifungal compounds of citrus fruit: effect of postharvest treatments with heat and growth regulators. J Agric Food Chem 43:1062–1066
Chida M, Yamashita K, Izumiya Y, Wantanabe K, Tamura H (2006) Aroma impact compounds in three citrus oils: cross-matching test and correspondence analysis approach. J Food Sci 71:56–58
Cunningham NM, Taverner PD (2007) Efficacy of integrated postharvest treatments against mixed inoculations of Penicillium digitatum and Geotrichum citri-aurantii in ‘Leng’ navel oranges (Citrus sinensis). N Z J Crop Hort Sci 35:187–192
Droby S, Eick A, Macarisin D, Cohen L, Rafael G, Stange R, McColum G, Dudai N, Nasser A, Wisniewski M, Shapira R (2008) Role of citrus volatiles in host recognition, germination and growth of Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum. Postharvest Biol Technol 49:386–396
FAO/WHO (2003) Summary of evaluations performed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) INCHEM. http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jeceval/jec_384.htm. 11 Nov 2008
Gomez K, Gomez A (1984) Statistical procedures for agricultural research, 2nd edn. Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp 187–240
Hao W, Zhong G, Hu M, Luo J, Weng Q, Rizwan-ul-Haq M (2010) Control of citrus postharvest green and blue mold and sour rot by tea saponin combined with imazalil and prochloraz. Postharvest Biol Technol 56:39–43
Katina L (2007) Physiology of chilling-related postharvest rind breakdown of navel oranges (Citrus sinensis [L] Osbeck). PhD thesis, La Trobe University, Australia, 191 pages
Klieber A, Scott E, Wuryatmo E (2002) Effect of method of application on antifungal efficacy of citral against post-harvest spoilage fungi of citrus in culture. Australas Plant Pathol 31:329–332
Knight TG (2002) Investigation of the physiological basis of the rind disorder oleocellosis in Washington navel oranges (Citrus sinensis [L] Osbeck), PhD thesis, University of Adelaide, Australia, 165 pages
Marco SD, Osti F (2008) Foliar symptom expression of wood decay in Actinidia deliciosa in relation to environmental factors. Plant Dis 92:1150–1157
Meir S, Philosoph-Hadas S, Lurie S, Droby S, Akerman M, Zauberman G, Shapiro B, Cohen E, Fuchs Y (1996) Reduction of chilling injury in stored avocado, grapefruit, and bell pepper by methyl jasmonate. Can J Bot 74:870–874
Moufida S, Marzouk B (2003) Biochemical characterization of blood orange, sweet orange, lemon, bergamot and bitter orange. Phytochemistry 62:1283–1289
Palou L, Smilanick J, Crisosto C, Mansour M, Plaza P (2003) Ozone gas penetration and control of the sporulation of Penicillium digitatum and P. italicum within commercial packages of oranges during cold storage. Crop Prot 22:1131–1134
Palou L, Smilanick J, Droby S (2008) Alternatives to conventional fungicides for the control of citrus postharvest green and blue moulds. Stewart Postharvest Rev 4:1–16
Pitt JI, Hocking AD (1997) Fungi and food spoilage, 2nd edn. Blackie Academic and Professional, Cambridge, pp 223–384
Plaza P, Usall J, Teixido N, Vinas I (2003) Effect of water activity and temperature on germination and growth of Penicillium digitatum, P. italicum and Geotrichum candidum. J Appl Microbiol 94:549–554
Rodov V, Ben-Yehoshua S, Fang DQ, Kim JJ, Ashkenazi R (1995) Preformed antifungal compounds of lemon fruit citral and its relation to disease resistance. J Agric Food Chem 43:1057–1061
Roistacher CN, Klotz LJ, Kolbezen MJ, Staggs EA (1958) Some factors in the control of blue-green mould decay of citrus fruit with ammonia. Plant Dis Rep 42:1112
Schirra M, D’hallewin G, Cabras P, Angioni A, Ben-Yehoshua S, Lurie S (2000) Chilling injury and residue uptake in cold-stored ‘Star Ruby’ grapefruit following thiabendazole and imazalil dip treatments at 20 and 50 °C. Postharvest Biol Technol 20:91–98
Sitton JW, Patterson ME (1992) Effect of high-carbon dioxide and low-oxygen controlled atmospheres on postharvest decays of apples. Plant Dis 76:992–995
Smilanick J, Mansour M, Margosan D, Gabler F, Goodwine W (2005) Influence of pH and NaHCO3 on effectiveness of imazalil to inhibit germination of Penicillium digitatum and to control postharvest green mold on citrus fruit. Plant Dis 89:640–648
Sun D, Petracek PD (1999) Grapefruit gland oil composition is affected by wax application, storage temperature, and storage time. J Agric Food Chem 47:2067–2069
Suprapta DN, Arai K, Iwai H (1997) Effects of volatile compounds on arthrospore germination and mycelial growth of Geotrichum candidum citrus race. Mycoscience 38:31–35
Tian S, Xu J, Jiang A, Gong Q (2002) Physiological and quality responses of longan fruit to high O2 or high CO2 atmospheres in storage. Postharvest Biol Technol 24:335–340
Wild B (1992) Oils ain’t oils in citrus rinds. Aust Citrus News 6:9–12
Wuryatmo E, Klieber A, Scott ES (2003) Inhibition of citrus postharvest pathogens by vapor of citral and related compounds in culture. J Agric Food Chem 51:2637–2640
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Andreas Klieber for advice on experimental design and Nancy Cunningham and Peter Taverner (SARDI) for providing navel oranges and helpful discussion. The Program Beasiswa Luar Negeri DIKTI Republik Indonesia Batch I/2008 through University of Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokerto, Indonesia provided a PhD scholarship to E. Wuryatmo. Thanks also to Associate Professor Graham Jones and Dr Kate Delaporte for support and encouragement.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wuryatmo, E., Able, A.J., Ford, C.M. et al. Effect of volatile citral on the development of blue mould, green mould and sour rot on navel orange. Australasian Plant Pathol. 43, 403–411 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-014-0281-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-014-0281-z