Abstract
The reduction of chemical fungicides in agriculture has led to the use of microorganisms as biocontrol agents. Starmerella bacillaris is a non-Saccharomyces yeast associated with overripe and botrytized grape berries microbiota. Its use has been proposed for wine fermentation because of yeast fructophilic character and high glycerol production. Recently, S. bacillaris has been demonstrated to possess antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea on the grape. Penicillium expansum is the pathogen responsible for the blue mold rot, the most important postharvest disease of apples. These fruits are the raw material of the cider, an alcoholic beverage commonly produced using S. cerevisiae starter cultures. In this study 14 S. bacillaris strains have been studied to evaluate their postharvest antifungal activity against P. expansum on apples. Moreover, the fermentation performances in apple juice of these non-Saccharomyces strains were tested, both in single-strain fermentation and in sequential fermentation, together with S. cerevisiae. Four S. bacillaris strains, able to significantly decrease blue mold rot symptoms and to increase glycerol content during fermentation have been selected to improve apple and cider quality.
Highlights
Penicillium expansum is the main agent of blue mold rot of apple fruit and many other fruit and vegetables during postharvest and causes high economic losses during storage of these commodities worldwide [1]
Activity of S. bacillaris strains in reducing blue mold rot on apple
A preliminary experiment performed on 14 strains of S. bacillaris was aimed at identifying the yeast strains with the highest activity in inhibiting apple decay caused by P. expansum
Summary
Penicillium expansum is the main agent of blue mold rot ( called soft rot) of apple fruit and many other fruit and vegetables during postharvest and causes high economic losses during storage of these commodities worldwide [1]. Blue mold symptoms appear as soft, light brown watery lesions that, at the later stages of decay development, turn blue-green due to formation of conidia [2]. P. expansum is believed to be the predominant fungal species that produces the mycotoxin patulin in apples and apple products [1]. Patulin is a secondary metabolite that accumulates in fruit leading to serious health problems for consumers [3,4]. Blue mold represents a significant economic problem to both fresh-fruit and fruit-processing industries, since apples.
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