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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #162954
Title: CONTROL OF BLUE MOLD OF APPLE WITH METSCHNIKOWIA PULCHERRIMA AND SODIUM BICARBONATE USING A SMALL SCALE BIN DRENCHER

Author
item Janisiewicz, Wojciech
item Peterson, Donald
item YODER, KEITH - VPI&SU
item Miller, Stephen

Submitted to: American Phytopathological Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2004
Publication Date: 7/31/2004
Citation: Janisiewicz, W.J., Peterson, D.L., Yoder, K.S., Miller, S.S. Control of blue mold of apple with metschnikowia pulcherrima and sodium bicarbonate using a small scale bin drencher. Phytopathology 94. Abstract S45.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A portable drencher capable of drenching a single bin of fruit was built to simulate commercial application of chemicals on harvested apples in small orchard operations in the Central and Eastern United States. The drencher, as designed, required as little as 125 L of the treatment solution and permitted various bin travel speeds. The portable drencher was used to determine efficacy of the yeast biocontrol agent M. pulcherrima alone or in combination with sodium bicarbonate (SB) in controlling blue mold caused by Penicillium expansum on 'Golden Delicious' and 'Delicious' apples. Wounded apples were placed midway between the bottom and top of the bin in the center and near the four corners (20 fruit in each place) and covered with apples to fill the bin. The bins were drenched with a suspension containing P. expansum (3x103 conidia/ml) alone or in combination with 2% SB, antagonist (1.2x107CFU/ml), or mixture of the two. Treated fruit were evaluated for decay incidence after 3 mo. of storage at ~2 C. On 'Delicious' apples, the lowest incidence of the decay was on fruit treated with the antagonist with SB (8.8%), followed by the antagonist alone (26%), then SB (34%), and P. expansum alone (66%). On 'Golden Delicious', decay incidence was 31% for P. expansum alone, and less than 3.4 % in all other treatments. The yeast M. pulcherrima appears to have good potential for control of apple decays in small orchard operations