Department of Plant Pathology

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Browsing Department of Plant Pathology by browse.metadata.advisor "Du Plooy, W."

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    Singular and combined effect of postharvest treatments on viability and reproductive ability of phyllosticta citricarpa infections.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Schreuder, Wouter; Fourie, P. H.; Erasmus, A.; Du Plooy, W.; Lennox, Cheryl L.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Plant Pathology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Citrus is one of the most important fruit crops globally and is currently being produced in over 100 countries. South Africa is one of the biggest shipping exporters of fresh citrus, with approximately 40% exported to European markets. Packhouses have rigorous export quality control programmes to maintain quality and prevent postharvest decay during the shipping period. Citrus black spot (CBS) (caused by Phyllosticta citricarpa (McAlpine) van der Aa) is mostly a cosmetic disease that reduces the aesthetic quality of fruit and does not cause postharvest decay. However, P. citricarpa is regarded as a quarantine organism in certain countries, and despite scientific evidence to the contrary, trade restrictions are imposed, such as the zero tolerance for CBS lesions on fruit exported to European Union. Whilst fruit may be exported from areas where CBS occurs, very strict preharvest control programmes must be followed to ensure fruit production in orchards meet the zero tolerance requirements. The biggest danger surrounding CBS is the presence of latent, asymptomatic infections in harvested and packed fruit, which can sometimes manifest on the fruit long after packhouse treatment, cold storage and shipping. Previous studies have indicated that postharvest treatments delay symptom expression and control CBS by reducing lesion and pycnidiospore viability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of more recent protocols and fungicides used in packhouses, as well as alternative fungicides, against latent CBS infections, including the reproductive potential of the lesions. Fruit with CBS lesions, as well as asymptomatic fruit with latent infections, were subjected to standard packhouse sanitation, fungicide treatment and cold storage (singularly and combined), and incubated at conditions that enable expression of latent infections. The full packhouse treatment along with storage period gave significantly control of latent infections. The over all reproductive ability of lesions were very low, with less than 2.1% of all lesion that formed on both Valencia’s and Eureka lemons developing pycnidia. Three alternative single treatments showed potential to control latent infections: FLU, potassium sorbate and Propirly 270 EC (PPZ + PYR). Treatment with (respectively) FLU and Propirly 270 EC resulted in moderate to significant control of latent infections on both Valencia oranges and Eureka lemons. Potassium sorbate moderately controlled latent CBS infections in both Valencia oranges and Eureka lemon trials. The combined epidemiological requirements for pycnidiospore release along with results from trials conducted in the current study indicate that harvested fruit is not an epidemiologically significant pathway for the spread of CBS.