ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Effect of a new chemical formula on postharvest decay incidence in citrus fruit
More details
Hide details
1
Plant Pathology Department, National Research Centre, El-Behose St. Dokki, 12622, Giza, Egypt
Journal of Plant Protection Research 2012;52(1):156-164
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Postharvest diseases caused by
Geotricum candidum
(sour rot),
Penicillium digitatum
(green mould), and
P. italicum
(blue
mould) are the most important negative factors affecting handling and marketing of citrus fruits in Egypt. A new formula containing
stevia leaf powder and a mixture of the three commercial chemical active ingredients: ketoconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole has
been successfully applied. Either chitosan or water wax were used as carriers, against fruit mould pathogenic fungi under laboratory
and storage conditions. Results of the in vitro test showed that a complete reduction in linear fugal growth was observed when the
ingredients of the new formula were used individually at a concentration of 400 μg/ml each, while a mixture of all the tested chemicals
had a superior effect with all fungal growth completely inhibited with the use of the mixture at a concentration of 100 μg/ml. Similar
results were recorded on citrus fruits which were coated with the suggested formula of chitosan or wax containing chemical compounds as a semi applicable technique using navel orange peel discs. Furthermore, the obtained results were confirmed using in vivo
testing on navel orange and lime fruits, under artificial inoculation conditions of the pathogenic fungi within a storage period extended for four weeks. The proposed approach provides the treated agricultural products with long acting protection against microbial
invasion and even association. This formula could be used as a fungicide alternative for protecting the agricultural products which
have high moisture contents. The formula can be used against mould pathogens to prolong the healthy shelf life of the agricultural
products. Such a treatment is safe, cheap, easily applied, and without residues which are harmful to people and the environment.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared that no conflict of interests exist.
REFERENCES (37)
2.
Benhamou N. 2004. Potential of the mycoparasite, Verticillium lecanii, to protect citrus fruit against Penicillium digitatum, the causal agent of green mould: a comparison with the effect of chitosan. Phytopathology 94 (7): 693–705.
3.
Chien P.J., Chou C.C. 2006. Antifungal activity of chitosan and its application to control post-harvest quality and fungal rotting of Tankan citrus fruit (Citrus Tankan Hayata). J. Sci. Food Agric. 86: 1964–1969.
4.
Chien P.J., Sheu F., Lin H.R. 2007. Coating citrus (Murcott turgor) fruit with low molecular weight chitosan increases postharvest quality and shelf life. Food Chem. 100 (3): 1160–1164.
5.
Clausen C.A., Yang V.W. 2005. Azole-based antimycotic agents inhibit mould on unseasoned pine. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegrad. 55: 99–102.
6.
Diekema D.J., Messer S.A., Hollis R.J., Jones R.N., Pfaller M.A. 2003. Activities of caspofungin, itraconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B against 448 recent clinical isolates of filamentous fungi. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41 (8): 3623–3626.
7.
Du J., Sun D. 1994. Effects of Chitosan coating on extending the storage life of fresh fruits. China Fruit Res. 21: 14–18.
8.
Du J., Gemma H., Iwahori S. 1997. Effect of chitosan coating on the storage of peach, Japanese pear and kiwifruit. J. Japan Soc. Hort. Sci. 66 (1): 15–22.
9.
Eckert J.W., Ogawa J.M. 1988. The chemical control of postharvest diseases, decidous fruits, berries, vegetable and root tuber crops. Ann. Rev. Phytopathol. 26: 433–469.
10.
Elewski B.E. 1989. Onychomycosis: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 11: 415–429.
11.
Elewski B.E., Hay R.J. 1996. Update on the management of onychomycosis: highlights of the third annual international summit on cutaneous antifungal therapy. Clin. Infect. Dis. 23 (2): 305–313.
12.
El-Gaouth A., Arul R., Ponnamapalam R. Buoler M. 1991. Chitosan coating effect on stability and quality of fresh strawberries. J. Food Sci. 56: 1618–1620.
13.
El-Gaouth A., Arul A., Grenier J., Asselin A. 1992a. Antifungal activity of chitosan on two postharvest pathogens of strawberry fruits. Phytopathology 82 (4): 398–402.
14.
El-Gaouth A., Ponnamapalam R., Arul J. 1992b. Chitosan coating to extend the storage life of tomato. Hort. Sci. 27 (9): 1016–1018.
15.
El-Gammal N.G., El-Mougy N.S. 2002. Safe, easy and applicaple method for controlling lime fruits postharvest diseases. Egypt J. Appl. Sci. 17 (1): 27–44.
16.
El-Mougy N.S., Abd El-Kareem F., AbdAlla M.A. 2002.Postharvest diseases control: Preventive effect of chitosan and bioagents against green and gray moulds of apple fruits. Egypt J. Phytopathol. 30 (1–2): 99–113.
17.
El-Mougy N.S., El-Gamal N.G., Abd-El-Kareem F. 2008. Use of organic acids and salts to control postharvest diseases of lemon fruits in Egypt. Arch. Phytopathol. Plant Protect. 41 (7): 467–476.
18.
Espinel-Ingroff A., Boyle K., Sheehan D.J. 2001. In vitrofungicidal activities of voriconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B against opportunistic moniliacous and dematiaceus fungi. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39 (3): 954–958.
19.
Gupte M., Kulkarni P., Ganuli B.N. 2002. Antifungal antibiotics. Appl. Microbiol. Biotech. 58 (1): 46–57.
20.
Ghannoum M.A., Rice L.B. 1999. Antifungal agents: mode of action, mechanisms of resistance, and correlation of these mechanisms with bacterial resistance. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 12 (4): 501–517.
21.
Ghosh S., Subudhi E., Nayak S. 2008. Antimicrobial assay of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaf extracts against 10 pathogens. Int. J. Integrative Biol. 2 (1): 27–31.
22.
Hirano S., Nagao N. 1989. Effect of chitosan, pectic acid, lysozyme and chitinase on the growth of several phytopathogens. Agric. Bio. Chem. 53 (11): 3065–3066.
23.
Hirano S., Itakura C., Seino H., Akiyama Y., Notata I., Kanbara N., Kawakami N. 1990. Chitosan as an ingredient for domestic animal feeds. J. Agric. Food Chem. 38: 1214–1217.
24.
Hitchcock C.A.1991. Cytochrome P-450-dependent 14a-sterol demethylase of Candida albicans and its interaction with azole antifungals. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 19 (3): 782–787.
25.
Komissarenko N.F., Derkach A.I., Kovalyov I.P., Bublik N.P. 1994. Diterpene glycosides and phenylpropanoids of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Asteraceae). Rast. Res.30 (1–2): 53–64.
26.
Nakai T., Uno J., Ikeda F., Tawara S., Nishimura K., Miyaji M. 2003. In vitroactivity of micafungin (FK463) against dimorphic fungi: Comparison of yeast-like and mycelial forms. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 47 (4): 1376–1381.
27.
Palou L., Smilanick J.L., Usall J., Viñas I. 2001. Control of postharvest decay blue and green moulds of oranges by hot water, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. Plant Dis.85 (4): 371–376.
28.
Pfaller M.A., Messer S.A., Jones R.N. 1998. In vitroactivity of two echinocandin derivatives, LY303366 and MK-0991 (L-743,872), against clinical isolates of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Rhizopus, and other filamentous fungi. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 30 (4): 251–255.
29.
Pfaller M.A., Diekema D.J., Messer S.A., Hollis R.J., Jones R.N. 2003. In vitroactivities of caspofungin compared with those of fluconazole and itraconazole against 3,959 clinical isolates of Candida spp., including 157 fluconazole-resistant isolates. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 47 (3): 1068–1071.
30.
Rambali B., Fernandez J.A., Nuffel L.V., Woestenborghs F., Baert L., Massart D.L., Odds F.C. 2001. Susceptibility testing of pathogenic fungi with itraconazol: a process analysis of test variables. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 48 (2): 163–177.
31.
Rex J.H., Rinaldi M.G., Pfaller M.A. 1995. Resistance of Candida species to fluconazole. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 39 (1): 1–8.
32.
SAS 1988. Statistical Analysis System. User‛s Guide: Statistics (PC-Dos 6.04). SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA, 943 pp.
33.
Smolinske S.C. 1992. Handbook of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Excipients. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p.287.
34.
Tadhani M.B., Subhash R. 2006. In vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni Leaves. Tropic. J. Pharmaceut. Res. 5 (1): 557–560.
35.
Uchida K., Nishiyama Y., Yokota N., Yamaguchi H. 2000. In vitro antifungal activity of a novel lipopeptide antifungal agent, FK463, against various fungal pathogens. J. Antibiot. 53 (10): 1175–1181.
36.
Winer B.J. 1971. Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. 2nd ed. MiGraw-Hil Kogakusha, LTD, 596 pp.
37.
Zervos M., Meunier F. 1993. Fluconazole (Diflucan): a review. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 3 (3): 147–170.