Screening of Lactic Acid Bacteria for the Bio-Control of Botrytis cinerea and the Potential of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum for Eco-Friendly Preservation of Fresh-Cut Kiwifruit

Abstract

Botrytis cinerea, responsible for grey mold, represents the first biological cause of fruit and vegetable spoilage phenomena in post-harvest. Kiwifruit is a climacteric fruit particularly prone to this mold infestation during storage. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are food-grade bacteria that can synthesize several metabolites with antimicrobial activity and are, therefore, suggested as promising and eco-friendly resources for the bio-control of molds on fruits and vegetables. In this work, we propose the screening of a collection of 300 LAB previously isolated from traditional sourdoughs for their ability to counteract in vitro the growth of Botrytis cinerea CECT 20973. Only 2% of tested LAB strains belonging to Lactiplantibacillus plantarum species, exerted a strong antagonism against B. cinerea. The cell-free supernatants were partially characterized and results clearly indicated that high levels of lactic acid contributed to the antagonistic activity. PAN01 and UFG 121 cell-free supernatants were investigated as potential bio-control agents in a preliminary in vivo assay using freshly cut kiwifruits as a food model. The application of cell-free supernatants allowed to delay the growth of B. cinerea on artificially contaminated kiwifruits until two weeks. The antagonistic activity was greatly affected by the storage temperature (25 °C and 4 °C) selected for the processed fruits, suggesting the importance to include microbial-based solution in a broader framework of hurdle technologies.

The impacts of antimicrobial and antifungal activity of cell‐free supernatants from lactic acid bacteria in vitro and foods

“…The sensory attributes of the ground beef were evaluated. The color and overall acceptability were scored at 8, corresponding to “ like very much ,” whereas odor scored 7 “ liked moderately .” Sensory evaluation (by trained panelists) of kiwifruit chunks dip in CFS Lactiplantibacillus plantarum UFG 121 and stored at 4°C concluded that kiwifruit quality was remained for marketing after 10 days and was similar to control fruits (without CFSl; De Simone et al., 2021). These results indicate that the use of CFS as an antimicrobial has low effects on sensory acceptability.…”

Mechanisms of Action of Microbial Biocontrol Agents against Botrytis cinerea

“…MQT16M1 was also studied for its antifungal activity against Botrytis and was shown to reduce mycelial growth reduction by 90%, owing to the production of VOCs, such as phenylethyl alcohol [145,146]. Finally, lactic acid bacteria like Lactiplantibacillus plantarum UFG 121 have also been shown to have antifungal activity against B. cinerea, reducing its concentration by 40-80%, and this has been associated with a pH reduction, probably due to the production of phenyllactic acid and 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid [147,148].…”

Application of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) in Sustainable Agriculture: Advantages and Limitations

“…In addition, LAB reduce the toxic agents in wheat and maize grains produced by the filamentous fungi [ 46 , 47 , 53 ]. De Simone and co-workers demonstrated that the Lactiplantibacillus plantarum species exerted strong antagonism against the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea [ 54 ]. Grey mold B. cinerea , an etiological agent, is a typical contaminant of many horticultural crops.…”

“…Lactobacillus sucicola and Pediococcus acidilactici showed antifungal activity against P. digitatum and other pathogenic species [ 48 ]. Several authors reported that LAB exhibits antifungal activity against horticultural and fruit crops [ 38 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 54 ]. On the other hand, Li et al, demonstrated that edible films embedded with 2% LAB prolong shelf life and prevent banana blackening [ 52 ].…”