2016 Annual Meeting | Recommendation of Clove oil to minimize <i>Penicillium</i> based postharvest losses in pomegranates (<i>Punica granatum </i>L).

Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Biological Control

148-P

Recommendation of Clove oil to minimize Penicillium based postharvest losses in pomegranates (Punica granatum L).
M. ALAM (1), M. Alam (2), A. Rehman (3), M. Amin (4), K. Riaz (3) (1) Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, Pakistan; (2) Department of Plant Pathology,University of Agriculture Faisalabad, 38040-Pakistan, Pakista

Plant essential oils are important alternate to synthetic fungicides for the management of postharvest diseases in fruits. In the present study, among the tested clove (Syzygium aromaticum), coriander (Coriandrum sativum) and oregano (Oreganum vulgare) essential oils, clove oil not only inhibited the mycelial growth of Penicillium expansum and Penicillium implicatum at the tested concentrations (25, 50, 100 and 250 µl/L, performing maximum at 250 µl/L giving 100% fungal growth inhibition), but also showed 64 and 45 % disease reduction against P. expansum and P. implicatum respectively, when applied as curative treatment to the artificially inoculated fruits (1x10⁶ spores/mL). In addition, Clove oil treatment also reduced weight loss and maintained soluble solid contents, titratable acidity and ascorbic acid contents of pomegranate fruits for about 4 weeks at ambient temperature (25^oC). Hence, it is concluded that clove oil can be used for postharvest disease management, preservation and extension of shelf life of pomegranate fruits.