Effectiveness of Postharvest Treatment with Chitosan to Control Citrus Green Mold

Mohammed El Guilli,Christophe Clément,Essaid Ait Barka,Abdelkhak Hamza,Mohammed Ibriz

doi:10.3390/agriculture6020012

Mohammed El Guilli, Christophe Clément + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture6020012

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Abstract

Control of green mold, caused by Penicillium digitatum, by fungicides raises several problems, such as emergence of resistant pathogens, as well as concerns about the environment and consumers’ health. As potential alternatives, the effects of chitosan on green mold disease and the quality attributes of citrus fruits were investigated. Fruits were wounded then treated with different concentrations of chitosan 24 h before their inoculation with P. digitatum. The results of in vitro experiment demonstrated that the antifungal activity against P. digitatum was improved in concert to the increase of chitosan concentration. In an in vivo study, green mold was significantly reduced by chitosan treatments. In parallel, chitinase and glucanase activities were enhanced in coated fruits. Evidence suggested that effects of chitosan coating on green mold of mandarin fruits might be related to its fungitoxic properties against the pathogen and/or the elicitation of biochemical defense responses in coated fruits. Further, quality attributes including fruit firmness, surface color, juice content, and total soluble solids, were not affected by chitosan during storage. Moreover, the loss of weight was even less pronounced in chitosan-coated fruit.

Highlights

With an annual production of over 130 million tons, covering an area of nearly 9 million hectares, citrus fruits are the leading fruit crop in international trade in terms of value
The overall objectives of this study were to (i) investigate the resistance induced by chitosan to control in vitro and in vivo development of Penicillium digitatum; (ii) evaluate the activity of defense enzymes in citrus fruit induced by chitosan treatment; and (iii) assess quality parameters of chitosan-coated citrus fruit
[9,21,22,23].strawberry, In the present work, the faculty and mode of peach action and applying chitosan postharvest coating to fruits including bell pepper, cucumber, pear, of chitosan to inhibit the development of green mold caused by digitatum in citrus fruits in of litchi, controlled postharvest diseases [9,21,22,23]

Summary

Introduction

With an annual production of over 130 million tons, covering an area of nearly 9 million hectares, citrus fruits are the leading fruit crop in international trade in terms of value. Citrus-based products represent a global market size of many billions of dollars. The Mediterranean basin constitutes one of the most important production areas of citrus, exporting more than half of the world’s citrus fruits [1]. Before reaching the market, harvested fruits are usually stored for fresh consumption. Fungal disease infection is the leading source of fresh citrus fruit decay [2]. Is the primary postharvest disease affecting citrus production worldwide in the packing house, during transit and in the market [3,4,5] Green mold caused by Penicillium digitatum (Pers.:Fr.) Sacc. is the primary postharvest disease affecting citrus production worldwide in the packing house, during transit and in the market [3,4,5]

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