Effects of Flotation Salt Solutions on Spore Germination of Four Decay Fungi and on Side Rot of Pear. David Sugar, Oregon State University, Southern Oregon Experiment Station, 569 Hanley Rd., Medford 97502. R. A. Spotts, Mid-Columbia Experiment Station, Hood River 97031. Plant Dis. 70:1110-1112. Accepted for publication 22 July 1986. Copyright 1986 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-1110.

Germination of conidia of Penicillium expansum, Botrytis cinerea, and Phialophora malorum and sporangiospores of Mucor piriformis was significantly reduced by 40 min of exposure to sodium lignin sulfonate solutions compared with solutions of sodium carbonate, sodium silicate, sodium sulfate, and water. No spores germinated after 10 min of exposure to solutions of sodium lignin sulfonate + sodium ortho phenylphenate (SOPP). Decay of wounded pear fruit by Phialophora malorum increased after flotation in sodium silicate + SOPP solution but decreased after treatment with the sodium salts of lignin sulfonate, carbonate, or sulfate compared with the water control. In a commercial packinghouse, postharvest decay caused by P. malorum was less in Bosc pears floated in sodium lignin sulfonate + SOPP than in fruit floated in either sodium carbonate + SOPP or sodium silicate + SOPP.