Impact of Postharvest Handling on Preharvest Latent Infections Caused by Monilinia spp. in Nectarines

Abstract

Latent infections caused by Monilinia spp. in nectarines cause great economic losses since they are not detected and rejected at harvest and can appear at any time post-harvest, even at the consumer’s home. The effect of a pre-cooling chamber, water dump operation, and cold-storage chamber on the activation and/or development of preharvest latent infections caused by Monilinia spp. on nectarines were studied under different postharvest conditions: (a) cold storage for 0, 1, or 3 d at 4 °C at either 75% relative humidity (RH) or 100% RH before water dumping, (b) water dumping for 10 minutes at 15 °C, and (c) cold storage for 0, 3, or 10 d at 4 °C at either 75% RH or 100% RH after water dumping. These storage conditions were transformed to fungal physiological time. For visualization of the latent infections caused by Monilinia spp., the nectarines were placed in sterile paper bags and frozen at −20 °C for 48 h in order to damage the epidermis. To compare different handling scenarios, the incidence of latent infection was modelled for physiological time description by a modified Gompertz model. The activation and/or development of preharvest natural latent infections caused by Monilinia spp. at postharvest was mainly related to temperature and incubation time at postharvest. Storing nectarines with any postharvest handling less than 11 days at 4 °C avoids brown rot symptoms and reduced the activation and/or development of pre-harvest latent infections caused by Monilinia spp., while more cold days caused the exponential phase of latent infection activation and/or development. The Gompertz model employed could be used for predicting the activation and/or development of latent infection caused by Monilinia spp. at postharvest conditions and looks at the postharvest life. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the effects of post-harvest handling on latent infections in fruit have been studied.

Epidemiological Studies of Brown Rot in Spanish Cherry Orchards in the Jerte Valley

“…Each necrotic twig collected was cut into small pieces less than 5 cm in length. Each cut sample was superficially disinfected by immersing it in a 1% NaOCl solution for 5 min, and then in 70% ethanol for 1 min [ 24 ]. Each sample was then rinsed twice in sterile distilled water (SDW) before being placed on PDA supplemented with streptomycin (0.5 g L −1 ) and incubated at 20 to 25 °C in the dark for 7 days.…”

Prediction of the Potential Distributions of Prunus salicina Lindl., Monilinia fructicola, and Their Overlap in China Using MaxEnt

“…nucipersica (Suckow) C. K. Schneid), plums, apricots ( Prunus armeniaca L.), and sour cherries ( Prunus cerasus L.), along with some fruit trees, including apples ( Malus pumila Mill. ), and pears ( Pyrus communis L.) [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. BR is caused by Monilinia spp., which belongs to the phylum Ascomycota, family Sclerotiniaceae, and order Helotiales [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

“…Luo) Sand.-Den. & Crous ( M. yunnanensis ), distributed in 22 provincial-level administrative regions [ 9 , 11 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. M. yunnanensis was the most widely distributed species in 12 provincial-level administrative regions, mainly harming stone fruit and fruit plants [ 7 ].…”

Temporal Patterns and Inter-Correlations among Physical and Antioxidant Attributes and Enzyme Activities of Apricot Fruit Inoculated with Monilinia laxa under Salicylic Acid and Methyl Jasmonate Treatments under Shelf-Life Conditions

“…The fungus can cause severe brown rot epidemics in most European stone fruit plantations [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Severe pre- and postharvest losses caused by M. laxa were reported in apricots [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Pre- and postharvest diseases, including brown rot, have been controlled successfully by chemical fungicide compounds, but due to increasing environmental concerns over chemical fungicide residues in fruits, great interest has been given to non-chemical, environmentally friendly measures for postharvest disease control [ 4 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”