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Postharvest Pathology and Mycotoxins

Biocontrol of Postharvest Diseases of Apples with Antagonist Mixtures. W. J. Janisiewicz, USDA, ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV 25430; Phytopathology 78:194-198. Accepted for publication 24 August 1987. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1988. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-78-194.

Acremonium breve isolated from apple leaves showed strong antagonistic activity against Botrytis cinerea in laboratory fruit tests. Golden Delicious apples protected with an aqueous suspension of this antagonist (2.5 × 10⁵ colony-forming units per milliliter) and subsequently challenged with B. cinerea spores (10⁴ spores per milliliter) did not develop lesions. On fully mature apples, inoculation with the pathogen did not produce lesions when the antagonist was applied 4 hr before inoculation. This was in contrast to a Pseudomonas sp. antagonist for which 72 hr was required between its application and inoculation with Penicillium expansum spores to prevent lesion development for the first time. When the two antagonists were tested as mixtures on wounded apples challenged with mixtures of B. cinerea and P. expansum spores, inhibition of both types of lesions was observed. Total protection was obtained with the antagonists on apples challenged with pathogen spores in concentrations corresponding to the highest reported in commercial drench tanks.