Abstract
Biological control of post-harvest diseases can be accomplished with commercially viable products. Unfortunately, the availability of such products, especially those based on beneficial organisms whose activity greatly depends on environmental conditions, is still limited. In this work, the yeast species Cryptococcus albidus was evaluated for post-harvest control of Botrytis cinerea in strawberry in two experiments. In the first, strawberry plants were treated three times with 106 cells of C. albidus ml-1 during the growing season under field conditions. In the second, concentrations of 106, 103 and 102 cells ml-1 of C. albidus were applied to fruits prior to storage. In both experiments, the effectiveness of grey mould control during cold storage was assessed. The percentage of decayed fruits was 3.7% and 4.5% after 7 days of storage in 2009 and 2010, respectively after treatment with C. albidus in the field, and 26.6% and 38.6% in the untreated control plants. The percentage of decayed fruits increased after 10 days of storage, but was about 20% lower in the C. albidus-treated than in the untreated fruits. No statistically significant differences between treated and untreated fruits were observed after more than 10 days of storage. The highest concentration of C. albidus (106 cells ml-1), was most effective at controlling B. cinerea, as it lowered the percentage of decayed fruits by a factor 2-3 (depending on the duration of storage) in comparison with the control.
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Kowalska, J., Rożdżyński, D., Remlein-Starosta, D. et al. Use of Cryptococcus albidus for controlling grey mould in the production and storage of organically grown strawberries. J Plant Dis Prot 119, 174–178 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03356438
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03356438