VIEW ARTICLE

Postharvest Pathology and Mycotoxins

Influence of Postharvest Handling and Surfactants on Control of Green Mold of Lemons by Curing. Richard R. Stange, Jr., Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521-0122, Current Address: Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Massey University, Private Bag, Palmerston North, New Zealand; J. W. Eckert, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521-0122. Phytopathology 84:612-616. Accepted for publication 7 March 1994. Copyright 1994 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-84-612.

Curing lemons at 32 C in a water-saturated atmosphere was evaluated for control of green mold to determine the effects of curing time, delay of treatment, and surfactants on efficacy. Fruit were inoculated with Penicillium digitatum by wounding with a tool dipped in a suspension of 10⁶ spores per milliliter. For fruit inoculated 18 h prior to treatment, curing 36–48 h was required for optimal disease control. In two of three experiments, curing for 48 h resulted in disease control comparable to dipping in 1 g of imazalil per liter. The curing treatment could be delayed 24 h after inoculation without reducing the effectiveness of the treatment. When fruit inoculated 24 h earlier were immersed in water containing sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) at 1 g/L and then cured 18 h, decay control was improved by 41–73% compared to the water-dipped cured control. The viability of P. digitatum conidia and germlings on potato-dextrose agar (PDA) was not affected by incubation at 30 C for 24 h or by plating onto PDA containing 40 µg of SDBS/ml. However, the combination of these two treatments resulted in mortalities of 66 and 92% for conidia and germlings, respectively, suggesting that the combination of these treatments was lethal.