Control Of Gray Mold Research Articles

Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds Produced by Bacillus siamensis YJ15 and Their Antifungal Activity Against Botrytis cinerea.

To develop an effective and environmentally safe strategy to control postharvest gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea, Bacillus siamensis strain YJ15 isolated from blueberry was used to test the biocontrol potential. It is interesting to find that the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from strain YJ15 exhibited significant antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea as well as 11 other plant-pathogenic fungi, with a percentage of mycelial growth inhibition from 74.96 to 92.81%. Additionally, VOCs from strain YJ15 could reduce significantly the disease incidence and lesion diameter with the increasing of fermentation time, indicating great biocontrol potential for controlling blueberry postharvest gray mold. Furthermore, the VOCs were collected by using headspace solid-phase microextraction fiber, and the composition of VOCs was further revealed by using gas chromatography coupled with quadruple mass spectrometry. In total, 24 kinds of VOCs, including 5 alkanes, 2 aldehydes, 3 ketones, 5 alcohols, 1 alkene, 5 acids and esters, 2aromatic compounds, and 1 sulfur compound, were emitted at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after inoculation. Among these VOCs, eight antifungal VOCs could inhibit mycelial growth of B. cinerea. It is important to highlight that, although 1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol were the most abundant compounds, 2-ethylhexanol, 1-heptanol, and 1,3-xylene have proved to be more toxic to B. cinerea than 3-methyl-1-butanol, propanethioic acid, 2,2-dimethyl-, ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, 2-heptanone, and 1-butanol, which provide new, promising biofumigants for the control of postharvest gray mold caused by B. cinerea.

Selenium Combined with Methyl Jasmonate to Control Tomato Gray Mold by Optimizing Microbial Community Structure in Plants.

Tomato cultivation is seriously affected by infection from Botrytis cinerea. The safe and effective control of tomato gray mold remains elusive. Plant-related microbial communities regulate not only plant metabolism but also plant immune systems. In this study, we observed that Selenium application in soil combined with foliar spraying of methyl jasmonate could reduce Botrytis cinerea infection in tomato fruits and leaves and improve tomato fruit quality. The infection rate of leaves decreased from 42.19% to 25.00%, and the vitamin C content increased by 22.14%. The bacterial community structure of the tomato was studied by using amplicon sequencing technology. The leaf bacterial alpha diversity of tomatoes treated with Se plus methyl jasmonate was significantly higher than that of the control. Then we isolated five strains antagonistic to Botrytis cinerea in vitro from tomato leaves in the treatment of Se plus methyl jasmonate. The antagonistic strains were identified as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus velezensis. Spraying mixed antagonistic strain suspension significantly inhibited the diameter of Botrytis cinerea with an inhibition rate of 40.99%. This study revealed the key role of plant-beneficial bacteria recruited by Se combined with methyl jasmonate in improving tomato plant disease resistance. These findings may benefit our understanding of the new regulation of microorganisms on Botrytis cinerea.

Genetic and pathogenic variation of Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould on Panax ginseng in China

Grey mould, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is an increasingly destructive disease of ginseng (Panax ginseng) in China. However, the extent of variation in the morphological characteristics of fungal colonies, genetic background and pathogenicity of different strains of this pathogen remains unknown. In this study, we isolated and identified 102 isolates of B. cinerea from ginseng. Among these, the sclerotial phenotype was dominant, followed by the mycelial and conidial phenotypes, with the proportion of each phenotype in the pathogen population showing no obvious variance across three provinces. Isolates were separated into three groups with differing pathogenicity, based on the diameter of the lesions they caused in pathogenicity tests; moderate-pathogenicity isolates were dominant, followed by strong- and weak-pathogenicity isolates. Variation was observed in the pathogenicity of isolates from three provinces. The Nei’s genetic diversity index and the Shannon’s information index of isolates from Jilin province was highest, followed by those from Liaoning, while isolates from Heilongjiang displayed the lowest genetic diversity. Furthermore, most of the genetic variance was found within the geographically defined B. cinerea populations; the low-genetic variance among populations was probably counteracted by gene flow. Results from this study provide a base understanding of genetic and pathogenic variation in B. cinerea populations from the main ginseng-growing regions of China, which will be helpful for further research and control of grey mould of ginseng.

Isolation and control of Botrytis cinerea in postharvest green pepper fruit

Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that causes severe losses of postharvest pepper fruit. Moreover, this fungus is indiscriminate, causing severe disease in a variety of plant species, thus isolation and identification of the individual strains are crucial for the development of strain specific antifungal agents. In this study, B. cinerea was isolated from naturally infected green pepper fruit and identified through morphological features, pathogenic symptoms and rDNA-ITS analysis. The antifungal potential of the food additive sodium dehydroacetate (SD) and plant natural product trans-2-hexenal (TH) against the isolated pathogen was then examined. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis matched the isolated strain to B. cinerea strains previously isolated from infected sweet pepper in Pakistan, and homology alignment analysis showed that it was 100% homologous to strain NRCB07. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that both SD and TH treatments strongly inhibited the growth of the isolated B. cinerea, SD had a concentration dependent effect, while TH had an obvious antifungal effect only at higher concentrations. Both SD and TH limited the progression of gray mold disease and reduced the weight loss and respiration rate of inoculated green peppers. Treated pepper retained higher levels of Vc, chlorophyll and total soluble solids. SD and TH also enhanced the activities of the antioxidant enzymes SOD, POD and CAT of pepper, which may be directly responsible for the delayed onset of gray mold disease. Taken together, these results suggest that SD and TH are potential antifungal agents against B. cinerea and can be considered for the health control of gray mold in postharvest green peppers.

Prevent and Control Gray Mold in the Plant

Prevent and Control Gray Mold in the Plant

Paenibacillus terrae PY8 controls Botrytis cinerea and modifies the endophytic microbial community of the medicinal plant, Paris polyphylla

Huachonglou (Paris polyphylla Smith var. chinensis (Franch.) Hara) is an important traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Botrytis cinerea is a plant pathogen that causes significant economic losses of P. polyphylla. Presently, chemical fungicides are the primary means of effective control of gray mold caused by B. cinerea. As a safer and greener control method, biocontrol agents (BCAs) for gray mold of P. polyphylla are very important. In the present study, a biocontrol agent, Paenibacillus terrae PY8, was isolated from the endophytic microbial community of leaves of the medicinal plant, Paris polyphylla. PY8 significantly reduced gray mold infections by Botrytis cinerea and additionally increased P. polyphylla yield and the level of polyphyllin Ⅰ and Ⅱ of P. polyphylla detected in rhizomes. An analysis of the endophytic microbial community of leaves of P. polyphylla indicated that the foliar application of P. terrae PY8 favorably altered the composition and structure of the endophytic community in P. polyphylla by decreasing the total abundance of potential plant pathogenic fungi. The effect of biocontrol agents on the endophytic microbiome may represent a new criterion for evaluating biocontrol agents in the future. Results of the present study provide theoretical support for the field application of PY8 on P. polyphylla for the control of gray mold.

Fungicide resistance frequencies of Botrytis cinerea greenhouse isolates and molecular detection of a novel SDHI resistance mutation

Sensitivity of B. cinerea to commonly used fungicides against Gray mold with emphasis to the newer quinone outside inhibitor (QoIs), and succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) was assessed during a monitoring survey from vegetable greenhouses in four representative regions of Crete. 42% from a total of 168 isolates were simultaneously resistant to boscalid, fluopyram, pyraclostrobin and fenhexamid but not to fludioxonil making this phenylpyrrole fungicide an excellent anti-resistance antifungal agent. Isolates with double resistance to SDHIs and QoIs were found in very high frequencies indicating a selection towards double resistance due to the use of pyraclostrobin-boscalid mixtures. A number of sdhB resistance mutations (H272R, N230I and P225F/H) were found in isolates also carrying the G143A cytb resistance mutation in the above isolates. A novel sdhB point mutation (I274V) was identified for the first time in B. cinerea isolates collected from greenhouses with a fluopyram spray history with specific resistance to SDHIs. A PCR-RFLP diagnostic assay was developed for the detection of this mutation in the sdhB gene. Mutations P225F/H and I274V were found to be associated with fitness penalties in terms of mycelial growth, sporulation or pathogenicity. Results suggest that, in order to retain effective control of gray mold in Crete, appropriate anti-resistance strategies should be implemented taking into account the high double SDHI and QoI resistance frequencies. Additional studies for monitoring the already known and the new SDHI-resistance mutations, are necessary in order to hinder the further spread and establishment of single or double resistant isolates of B. cinerea detected in greenhouses in Crete.

Natamycin as a postharvest treatment to control gray mold on stored blueberry fruit caused by multi-fungicide resistant Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea is the cause of gray mold, a major postharvest disease of blueberries grown in California. Control of gray mold is largely dependent on the use of synthetic fungicides. However, multiple resistance to different classes of fungicides is commonly present in B. cinerea populations from blueberry in the region. Alternatives to conventional chemical fungicides are needed to control postharvest gray mold. Natamycin, a naturally occurring substance listed as biofungicide, is registered for postharvest use in certain fresh fruit and it was highly effective to control various postharvest fungal diseases. In this study, natamycin was evaluated for its effectiveness to control gray mold caused by B. cinerea with resistance to various commonly used fungicides as well as its effectiveness to reduce decays in general that resulted from natural infections. Our results showed that as low as a quarter rate of the label rate of natamycin reduced gray mold incidence and lesion size regardless of fungicide resistance phenotypes. Natamycin also reduced overall fruit decay caused by natural infections and it had no adverse effect on fruit quality. Natamycin can be a promising tool to control postharvest gray mold of blueberry fruit while maintaining fruit quality.

Bee-Vectored Aureobasidium pullulans for Biological Control of Gray Mold in Strawberry.

Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is a common postharvest disease in strawberries, reducing shelf life considerably. We investigated the potential of the yeast-like biocontrol fungus Aureobasidium pullulans (AP-SLU6) vectored by bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) in the Flying Doctors® system to inhibit the pathogen and increase the shelf life of harvested strawberries (cultivar Sonata). Using bumblebees as vectors of various biocontrol agents is becoming increasingly popular, but any potentially negative effects on bee performance have been understudied. Our results show that, over the 4-week period of the trial, the performance and activity of the bees were not negatively affected by A. pullulans. The bees successfully picked up the powder formulation; then, they carried and deposited it on the flowers. The vectoring of the biocontrol agent significantly reduced gray mold development on the harvested fruits by 45% and increased shelf life by 100% in comparison with control treatments. This suggests that the biocontrol fungus applied during flowering successfully reduced Botrytis infection and thus, effectively protected the fruits from gray mold. In addition, the bee-vectored application of the biocontrol agent was found to be significantly more effective than spray application because the latter may temporarily increase humidity around the flower, thereby creating a suitable environment for the pathogen to thrive. In summary, our study demonstrates that A. pullulans vectored by bumblebees can decrease gray mold infection and improve the shelf life of strawberries without adversely affecting the bees, thus providing a basis for the sustainable and efficient control of gray mold on strawberry.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

Trichoderma-Induced Resistance to Botrytis cinerea in Solanum Species: A Meta-Analysis.

With the idea of summarizing the outcomes of studies focusing on the resistance induced by Trichoderma spp. against Botrytis cinerea in tomato, the present paper shows, for the first time, results of a meta-analysis performed on studies published from 2010 to 2021 concerning the cross-talk occurring in the tomato–Trichoderma-B. cinerea system. Starting from an initial set of 40 papers, the analysis was performed on 15 works and included nine parameters, as a result of a stringent selection mainly based on the availability of more than one article including the same indicator. The resulting work not only emphasizes the beneficial effects of Trichoderma in the control of grey mold in tomato leaves (reduction in disease intensity, severity and incidence and modulation of resistance genes in the host), but carefully drives the readers to reply to two questions: (i) What are the overall effects of Trichoderma on B. cinerea infection in tomato? (ii) Do the main effects of Trichoderma differ based on the tomato species, Trichoderma species, amount, type and duration of treatment? At the same time, this meta-analysis highlights some weak points of the available literature and should be seen as an invitation to improve future works to better the conceptualization and measure.

Mushroom alcohol controls gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea in harvested fruit via activating the genes involved in jasmonic acid signaling pathway

Mushroom alcohol (also called 1-octen-3-ol) is a natural volatile product derived mainly from the enzymatic breakdown of linoleic acid in plants and fungi. In this study, the efficacy of mushroom alcohol on control of postharvest gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea was investigated. Mushroom alcohol vapor treatment at 3, 6 or 12 μL L−1 exhibited a marked inhibitory effect on mycelial growth of B. cinerea in vitro and disease severity of gray mold on harvested fruit in a concentration-dependent manner. Likewise, mushroom alcohol efficiently reduced the natural disease incidence of sweet cherry fruit, while no adverse effect was observed on fruit weight loss, soluble solid and titratable acid contents during storage. The mode of action of mushroom alcohol was attributed to its direct inhibition on B. cinereavia mediating the expression of genes related to spore germination and pathogenicity. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of mushroom alcohol on gray mold in sweet cherry fruit was also dependent on activating the expression levels of key genes participating in jasmonic acid signaling pathway. These results demonstrated the beneficial effect of mushroom alcohol in inhibiting B. cinerea, which may be used as an alternative to control gray mold.

A novel Trichoderma asperellum strain DQ-1 promotes tomato growth and induces resistance to gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea.

Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is a major cause of economic losses during tomato production. In this study, we obtained 23 Trichoderma strains from tomato rhizosphere soil and their inhibitory effects on B. cinerea and the promoting effects on tomato growth were determined. Among them, the inhibition rate of strain DQ-1 on B. cinerea was 88.56%; compared with the control group, after treatment with strain DQ-1, the seeds germination rate and root length of tomato increased by 5.55 and 37.86%. The induced disease resistance of strain DQ-1 was evaluated by pot experiments. The disease incidence (DI) and disease severity index (DSI) of tomato pre-inoculated with strain DQ-1 and then inoculated with B. cinerea were reduced by 38 and 64% compared with the control. Furthermore, we detected the expression levels of tomato disease resistance related genes PR2 and TPX, ethylene pathway related genes ETR1 and CTR1 and jasmonic acid pathway related genes LOX1 and PAL in challenging and non-challenging inoculation treatments. The results showed that the tomato treated with strain DQ-1 triggered the system acquired resistance (SAR) and induced systemic resistance (ISR) pathway, thereby enhancing the disease resistance of tomato. Then the strain DQ-1 was identified as Trichoderma asperellum based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic information. This study suggests that the novel T. asperellum strain DQ-1 can be a potential candidate for the biological control of gray mold in tomato.

Quality of ‘San Andreas’ strawberries and control of gray mold with essential melaleuca oil

Quality of ‘San Andreas’ strawberries and control of gray mold with essential melaleuca oil

Streptomyces botrytidirepellens sp. nov., a novel actinomycete with antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea.

The fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea is the causal agent of devastating gray mold diseases in many economically important fruits, vegetables, and flowers, leading to serious economic losses worldwide. In this study, a novel actinomycete NEAU-LD23T exhibiting antifungal activity against B. cinerea was isolated, and its taxonomic position was evaluated using a polyphasic approach. Based on the genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, it is concluded that the strain represents a novel species within the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces botrytidirepellens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-LD23T (=CCTCC AA 2019029T=DSM 109824T). In addition, strain NEAU-LD23T showed a strong antagonistic effect against B. cinerea (82.6±2.5%) and varying degrees of inhibition on nine other phytopathogenic fungi. Both cell-free filtrate and methanol extract of mycelia of strain NEAU-LD23T significantly inhibited mycelial growth of B. cinerea. To preliminarily explore the antifungal mechanisms, the genome of strain NEAU-LD23T was sequenced and analyzed. AntiSMASH analysis led to the identification of several gene clusters responsible for the biosynthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites with antifungal activity, including 9-methylstreptimidone, echosides, anisomycin, coelichelin and desferrioxamine B. Overall, this research provided us an excellent strain with considerable potential to use for biological control of tomato gray mold.

Synthesis, Bioactivity, and QSAR Study of 3,4-Dichlorophenyl Isoxazole-Substituted Stilbene Derivatives against the Phytopathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea.

Gray mold, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is one of the most destructive fungal diseases in crops, responsible for significant economic losses. In search of natural product-based fungicides, we designed and synthesized a series of novel 3,4-dichlorophenyl isoxazole-substituted stilbene derivatives, and their in vivo antifungal activities against B. cinerea were evaluated. The results indicated that some of the target molecules demonstrated remarkable efficiency for the control of tomato gray mold. In particular, compound 5r displayed the highest fungicidal potency with an inhibition rate of 56.11% comparable to that of positive control boscalid (66.96%). Moreover, a hologram quantitative structure-activity relationship (HQSAR) model with good predictive capability was developed to provide in-depth insight into the activity profiles of these compounds. Preliminary mechanism studies suggested that compound 5r might exert its antifungal effect by changing hyphal morphology and increasing the membrane permeability. The present study contributes to the development of natural stilbene derivatives as alternative bioactive agents against B. cinerea.

Chemical composition and antifungal activity of essential oil from Origanum vulgare against Botrytis cinerea

In this study, the chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) of Origanum vulgare was characterized, and the antifungal activity of the EO and some individual components against Botrytis cinerea (Y-BC-1) was determined. Twenty-one components were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–flame ionization detection, constituting 95.7% of the EO. The major components were methyleugenol (16.5%), myristicin (15.6%), carvacrol (15.0%), thymol (9.8%), apioline (9.4%), and (Z)-β-farnesene (8.7%). B. cinerea in vitro mycelial growth and spore germination were strongly inhibited by the EO and two of its main components, thymol and carvacrol. In vivo vapor contact assays, the antifungal activity of the EO at 250 mg/L suppressed the decay of cherry tomatoes 96.39%. Moreover, thymol and carvacrol at 125 mg/L completely suppressed the gray mold. Thus, the EO of O. vulgare is a potentially nontoxic and ecofriendly botanical fungicide for postharvest control of gray mold.

Recent Advances on the Use of Natural and Safe Alternative Method to Control Grey Mould of Grapes

Grey mould of grapes (Vitis vinifera L var. red globe) caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex. Fr. is recorded as an economically serious pathogen found in stored and imported grapes in India and which may cause heavy loss in all grape producing countries. Therefore the management of grey mould is equally important. In conventional agriculture the application of fungicides to grapes after harvest to reduce decay has been increasingly, curtailed by the development of pathogen resistance, the lack of knowledge of fungicide, negative public approach regarding the safety of pesticides and consequent restrictions on fungicide use. The study of alternative methods to control of grey mould decay has developed over several decades. Twenty five isolates of B.cinerea were isolated from infected samples of grape collected from various localities of Maharashtra. Out of which isolate Bc-19 was highly sensitive (290.8 mg/ml) while isolate Bc-11 was resistant (1095.1 mg/ml). Sensitivity of B. cinerea was tested using thiophanate methyl by food poisoning methods. Experiments were performed in Research Laboratory, KVP to find out the natural and safe alternative method to control of resistant Bc-11. Six fungicides viz. dithane M-45, thiram, zineb, benomyl, carbendazim and captafol were used individually and in mixture with thiophanate methyl. Benomyl gave a significant PCE individual at 50 µg/ml (70.01) and at 100 µg/ml PCE value (83.12) when compared with thiophanate methyl at 100 µg/ml (58.12), Captafal 50 µg/ml and 100 µg/ml (64.18), zineb 50 µg/ml (62.13) and 100 µg/ml (75.15) PCE values, thiram at 50 µg/ml (54.12) and 100 µg/ml (PCE- 65.10) and dithane M-45 at 50 µg/ml PCE (38.02) and 100 µg/ml (48.15) PCE values. Dithane and thiram was less effective. Trichoderma viride was found to be the most effective in reducing the colony diameter of B. cinerea (69.89 - 68.12). Thus T. viride proves better and safe for the management of B. cinerea of grape as a biocontrol agent.

Potential value of small-molecule organic acids for the control of postharvest gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea

In the present study, a total of 21 natural or synthetic small-molecule organic acids were selected and determined for their activity against postharvest gray mold caused by B. cinerea. Overall, cuminic acid, which was extracted from the seed of Cuminum cyminum L, showed the most promising antifungal activity against B. cinerea both in vitro and in vivo. The study on action mechanism showed that cuminic acid could inhibit the development of sclerotia and the secretion of oxalic acid, destroy the cell membrane integrity, and down regulate the expression of several key genes involved in sclerotia development and pathogenicity of B. cinerea. Furthermore, cuminic acid could potentially reduce the degradation of TSS and TA content, while it had no significant effect on the weight loss, firmness, and VC content of apple and tomato. Importantly, cuminic acid could enhance the antioxidant enzyme activities of the fruits. All these results demonstrate the antifungal activity and highlight the great potential of cuminic acid as an alternative environmental-friendly agent for the control of postharvest gray mold both on fruits and vegetables.

SO2-generating pads reduce gray mold in clamshell-packaged ‘Rubi’ table grapes grown under a two-cropping per year system

The aim of this work was to evaluate different SO2-generating pads and liners to control gray mold in ventilated clamshell-packaged ‘Rubi’ table grapes grown under a two-cropping per year system. The treatments consisted of SO2-generating pads (slow release or dual release) and plastic liners with different perforations (microperforated; 2.0; 4.0 or 5.0 mm in diameter) and a control, only with the standard microperforated plastic liner. The packaged grapes were stored in a cold chamber at 1.0 ± 1.0 °C and 95% relative humidity. After 45 days, the grapes were removed from cold storage and placed, without liners and SO2-generating pads, for 3 days at room temperature (22.0 ± 1.0 °C). The evaluations occurred at 30 and 45 days after the beginning of cold storage, and the following variables were assessed: incidence of gray mold, mass loss, stem browning and shattered berries. At 3 days of shelf-life, the same variables were assessed, except mass loss. The completely randomized design was used as a statistical model with four replications, and each plot consisted of five bunches individually stored in ventilated clamshell-packaged. The dual release SO2-generating pads are efficient in controlling the gray mold in ‘Rubi’ table grapes regardless of the type of perforation of the plastic liners, with low mass loss and shattered berries, with good conservation of the freshness of the rachis. The disease was efficiently controlled in both annual crops. The slow-release SO2-generating pads, regardless of the type of perforation of the plastic liners, resulted in intermediate efficiency of gray mold control, with good physical quality of the bunches. Thus, the use of dual release SO2-generating pads is recommended to control gray mold in ventilated clamshell-packaged ‘Rubi’ table grapes.

Biological control of strawberry crown rot, root rot and grey mould by the beneficial fungus Aureobasidium pullulans

Utilization of biocontrol agents is a sustainable approach to reduce plant diseases caused by fungal pathogens. In the present study, we tested the effect of the candidate biocontrol fungus Aureobasidium pullulans (De Bary) G. Armaud on strawberry under in vitro and in vivo conditions to control crown rot, root rot and grey mould caused by Phytophthora cactorum (Lebert and Cohn) and Botrytis cinerea Pers, respectively. A dual plate confrontation assay showed that mycelial growth of P. cactorum and B. cinerea was reduced by 33–48% when challenged by A. pullulans as compared with control treatments. Likewise, detached leaf and fruit assays showed that A. pullulans significantly reduced necrotic lesion size on leaves and disease severity on fruits caused by P. cactorum and B. cinerea. In addition, greenhouse experiments with whole plants revealed enhanced biocontrol efficacy against root rot and grey mould when treated with A. pullulans either in combination with the pathogen or pre-treated with A. pullulans followed by inoculation of the pathogens. Our results demonstrate that A. pullulans is an effective biocontrol agent to control strawberry diseases caused by fungal pathogens and can be an effective alternative to chemical-based fungicides.