Incidence of post harvest rots of apple incited by different fungi and its management through essential oils
2016
Muqeet, S.
Pakistan is among twenty largest producers of the apple production. Postharvest losses are up to 10-30% which are due to postharvest diseases. Penicillium expansum, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Botrytis cinerea are major causes of decay of apple fruits. Blue mould (Penicillium expansum) is commonly occurring postharvest disease. Present study was conducted in the Seed Health Testing lab, Department of Plant Pathology, University of agriculture Faisalabad. Infected fruits and healthy fruits (Royal gala, Red delicious, Golden delicious, Kulu and Kandhari) were collected from Faisalabad and Kamalia market and from orchards. Potato dextrose agar (PDA) media was prepared to isolate and purify the post-harvest fungi associated with apple fruits. Screening was done after screening test. Healthy fruits were coated with 3 different essentials oils namely Garlic, neem and castor was applied at 20%, 40%, 60% concentrations after inoculation with Penicillium expansum isolated from the diseased fruits and were stored in polythene bags. Experiments were made, with three replications and three treatments, in Complete Randomized Design. Penicillium expansum was isolated from all apple cultivars after three days recording data, while Botrytis cinerea was isolated from four varieties except royal gala. Aspergillus niger was isolated from three cultivars except red delicious and Kandhari and Aspergillus flavus was isolated from only two cultivars namely Red delicious and golden delicious. Oil coating with neem oil at all concentrations proved to be most effective against P. expansum growth as compared to control and other oil coatings.
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