Viability of use of biological control agents against Penicillium digitatum in postharvest

• Grant number: 07/03692-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2007
• End date: July 31, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Katia Cristina Kupper
• Grantee: Katia Cristina Kupper
• Host Institution: Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Despite the economic and social importance that citrus represent to the country, this sector faces many problems of phytosanitary nature. Among them deserve mention the postharvest diseases, which normally initiate in the field and develop during harvest, transport, packing, and storage of the fruits. The green mold, caused by Penicillium digitatum, is responsible for huge losses of citrus fruits on the commercialization stage and it is considered limitanting factor of production. With the increasing increase in the consumption of food exempt of chemical products, due to a bigger concern of the consumer with the quality of life and health, producers have searched new alternatives to control of diseases and, among these, the biological control. Likewise, the method employed in this study, has the objective of indicating a methodology to be used in packing-houses of organic growers, in order to preserve the citrus fruits against P. digitatum, or at least decrease the use of chemical fungicides in conventional packing-house, during the treatment of citrus fruits. The objectives of this work are: (i) to evaluate the efficacy of thermic treatment, alone or in combination with biological control agent (BCA), in the control of P. digitatum; (ii) to verify the compatibility of BCA and fungicides for the control of green mold on citrus fruits; (iii) to study the combination of BCA and sodium bicarbonate with or without thermic treatment, in the control of decay in citrus fruit ; (iv) to verify the possibility of utilization of BCA with the main waxes employed in the packed postharvest of citrus fruits; (v) to verify the utilization of BCA, combined or not with sodium bicarbonate and with the main waxes utilized in the packed postharvest of citrus fruits; (vi) to determine the use of BCA, in combination or not with fungicide, and the main waxes utilized in the packed postharvest of citrus fruits; and, finally, (vii) to determine the effect of the best treatment, in the quality of citrus fruits, during the process of improvement in packing-house. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORETTO, CRISTIANE; LIMA CERVANTES, ANTONIO LUCAS; BATISTA FILHO, ANTONIO; KUPPER, KATIA CRISTINA. Integrated control of green mold to reduce chemical treatment in post-harvest citrus fruits. Scientia Horticulturae, v. 165, p. 433-438, JAN 22 2014. (07/03692-0, 07/02045-0)

KATIA CRISTINA KUPPER; ANTONIO LUCAS LIMA CERVANTES; MARIANA NADJARA KLEIN; ALINE CAROLINE DA SILVA. Avaliação de microrganismos antagônicos, Saccharomyces cerevisiae e Bacillus subtilis para o controle de Penicillium digitatum. Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura, v. 35, n. 2, p. 425-436, 2013-06-00. (07/03692-0)