Sorina Dinu, Viorel Fătu, Lavinia-Diana-Nicoleta Buturugă-Barbu, Oana-Alina Boiu-Sicuia
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antagonistic strains, biocontrol, Botrytis cinerea, strawberries, total coliforms
Strawberries are sensitive to pathogens attack. Therefore, they require specific phytosanitary control measures. Antagonistic microorganisms, such as the biological control agents, have been suggested as an alternative method to prevent various infections. The aim of this work was to select beneficial yeasts and bacterial strains with inhibitory potential against the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea, that causes gray mold. Certain in vitro tests were performed to identify the biocontrol mechanisms of action. Moreover, the presence of coliform bacteria was also evaluated on the strawberry fruits grown in organic system. Two yeast strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae L30b and Metschnikowia pulcherrima sa5, and other six bacterial strains, Bacillus subtilis A4, Pseudomonas chlororaphis RG, P. fluorescens Rcp2, R2.1d and 79.3 and Serratia plymuthica Ps33, were tested in vitro for the production of diffusible and volatile compounds with antifungal effect. The results highlighted Pseudomonas fluorescens R2.1d strain which had the best efficacy on inhibiting the pathogenic mycelium growth. This strain released both diffusible and volatile antagonistic compounds against gray mold caused by B. cinerea, with as efficacy of 68.9% and 88.9%, respectively. The strawberries surface microbiota was evaluated on fruits collected from an ecological production system, having different technological option as experimental variants. The lowest microbial load of coliform bacilli was shown on the strawberry fruits collected from the matted row variant, covered with black foil mulch, compared to the other technological option of the ecological production system.
Cite this paper: Dinu, S., Fătu, V., Buturugă-Barbu, L.D.N., Boiu-Sicuia, O.A. (2024). ECO-FRIENDLY AND BIOLOGICAL MEANS TO REDUCE PHYTOPATOGENIC AND COLIFORM CONTAMINANTS ON STRAWBERRIES. Current Trends in Natural Sciences, 13(25), 143-151. https://doi.org/10.47068/ctns.2024.v13i25.017
