Integrating pre and postharvest 'Nil fungicide residue' treatments for control of brown rot of stone fruits caused by Monilinia fructicola
P.A.G. Elmer, T.M. Spiers, P.N. Wood, T. Reglinski, S. Hoyte, F.J. Parry, J. Usall
Acta Horticulturae 962: 489-493. 2012.
2012
บทคัดย่อ
The aim of this investigation was to evaluate pre- and postharvest options for control of brown rot (caused by Monilinia fructicola (Wint.) Honey) with a view to replacing the fungicide, iprodione. In the absence of pre-harvest iprodione applications, brown rot losses were high (average 22 infected fruit per tree). Pre-harvest applications of a prototype mixture, containing chitosan, sodium salicylate and calcium chloride (CSC) significantly reduced the number of infected fruit per tree to an average of 12 in a season that was highly favourable to brown rot infection. Two promising postharvest treatments were also evaluated. In the absence of postharvest treatment, brown rot incidence after coolstorage and 4 days of incubation at room temperature was 56%. The most effective postharvest treatment was a fruit dip in a heated sodium bicarbonate solution (60°C), which significantly reduced postharvest brown rot by up to 75%. This treatment was significantly more effective at reducing postharvest brown rot than the sanitiser product, Proxitane® (0.6%). These preliminary findings suggest that the integration of pre-harvest applications of new natural product formulations and a postharvest treatment with the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) compound sodium bicarbonate, has potential for use against brown rot of stone fruits.