Development of resistance to picking wound entryBotrytis cinemastorage rots in kiwifruit

Abstract

Abstract The effects of inoculation and cool‐storage delays, factors affecting fruit composition (harvest date, vine, soluble solids content, position in canopy), and preharvest treatment with salicylic acid on the incidence of Botrytis cinerea storage rots in kiwifruit were investigated. ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit picked during the 1992 and 1993 harvest seasons with pedicels attached were inoculated by applying mixed germinated and ungerminated Botrytis cinerea conidia to wounds formed by removal of the pedicels. The incidence of rots was consistently high (82–88%) when inoculation was within 0.1 h of picking and fruit was cooled rapidly. Where cooling and inoculation were delayed the incidence declined significantly. In these instances it varied with vine and harvest date with no apparent dependence on fruit maturity. The salicylic acid treatment significantly reduced the incidence of storage rots.