Inhibitory Effect of Potato Sprouting Inhibitor Chlorpropham on Dry Rot

Abstract

Potato dry rot is one of the potato storage diseases caused by Fusarium species and is a representative pathological disorder that induced post-harvest loss during storage. Chlorpropham treatment for sprouting inhibition is mainly used for room temperature storage of potatoes for processing. In this study, the inhibitory effect of chlorpropham on Fusarium-induced dry rot of potato ‘Dano’. To investigate the mycelial growth rate of the dry rot fungus (Fusarium solani Appel & Wollenw), mycelial growth was investigated in a chlorpropham (5.0, 50.4, 503.8, and 5,038 ppm) and prochloraz (0.1, 1.0, 10.0, and 100.0 ppm) medium containing F. oxysporum mycelia. Mycelia were more inhibited as the concentration of chlorpropham and prochloraz increased during incubation at 20°C, and the inhibition rate was 98.2% and 100% when treated with 503.8 ppm of chlorpropham and 10ppm of prochloraz in 14 days, respectively. Potato Dano tubers inoculated with F. oxysporum were dipped in chlorpropham (5.0, 50.4, and 503.8 ppm) and prochloraz (100 ppm) to investigate the effect of preventing dry rot during cold storage at 20°C and 4°C in vivo. The disease diameter of potatoes stored at room temperature (about 20°C) was reduced to 13.0 mm in the prochloraz 100 ppm teatment, and 10.7 mm in the chlorpropham 50.4 ppm treatment compared to 13.7 mm in the control tuber at 70 days of storage. The disease progression in all treatments including control was similar with no statistically significant difference at 4°C air temperature. From the results of this study, it is considered that treatment with 50.4 ppm of chlorpropham after harvest will be useful for suppressing dry rot of stored potatoes.