Articles
Semi-commercial hot water treatments to control apple bull’s eye rot (Neofabraea alba)
Article number
1325_39
Pages
273 – 278
Language
English
Abstract
Bulls eye rot (BER), caused by Neofabraea alba, is an important postharvest apple disease worldwide.
Reduction of BER by application of hot water treatments (HWT) was demonstrated in laboratory studies on inoculated Scilate apples.
Application of a sanitiser (Tsunami) and UV-C did not provide significant reduction of bulls eye rot, and did not improve HWT when used in combination.
Warming fruit after 3 weeks coolstorage followed by replacing fruit in the coolstore reduced bulls eye rot, but not as effectively as HWT. The feasibility of using HWT in a semi-commercial packing line was investigated.
One bin of naturally infected Scired fruit was harvested from an orchard with known high incidence of BER, then placed into a coolstore at 0.5±0.5°C for 1 week until treated.
All fruit were passed through a high pressure water washer then air-dried.
Half the bins fruit were packed into cardboard trays in apple boxes with a plastic polyliner.
The other half were treated for 2 min with hot water at 51°C in a semi-commercial hot water bath, then air-dried before packing as before.
After all treatments were conducted, fruit were placed in a coolstore at 0.5±0.5°C and assessed after 6, 12, 16 and 20 weeks.
After 20 weeks of coolstorage, the hot water-treated fruit showed less lesion growth (identified by symptoms as BER) than untreated control fruit.
HWT effectively reduced both lesion size and number of natural infections by Neofabraea alba by 93 and 84%, respectively, and shows promise for use in commercial packhouses.
Reduction of BER by application of hot water treatments (HWT) was demonstrated in laboratory studies on inoculated Scilate apples.
Application of a sanitiser (Tsunami) and UV-C did not provide significant reduction of bulls eye rot, and did not improve HWT when used in combination.
Warming fruit after 3 weeks coolstorage followed by replacing fruit in the coolstore reduced bulls eye rot, but not as effectively as HWT. The feasibility of using HWT in a semi-commercial packing line was investigated.
One bin of naturally infected Scired fruit was harvested from an orchard with known high incidence of BER, then placed into a coolstore at 0.5±0.5°C for 1 week until treated.
All fruit were passed through a high pressure water washer then air-dried.
Half the bins fruit were packed into cardboard trays in apple boxes with a plastic polyliner.
The other half were treated for 2 min with hot water at 51°C in a semi-commercial hot water bath, then air-dried before packing as before.
After all treatments were conducted, fruit were placed in a coolstore at 0.5±0.5°C and assessed after 6, 12, 16 and 20 weeks.
After 20 weeks of coolstorage, the hot water-treated fruit showed less lesion growth (identified by symptoms as BER) than untreated control fruit.
HWT effectively reduced both lesion size and number of natural infections by Neofabraea alba by 93 and 84%, respectively, and shows promise for use in commercial packhouses.
Authors
K.R. Everett, L. Hasna, I.P.S. Pushparajah, C. Middleditch, L. Ramos, M.J. Vergara, P.N. Wood, B.M. Fisher, S. Olsson, A. Nangul, J. Cho, A.B. Woolf
Keywords
Malus × domestica, hot water treatment, thermal inactivation, Neofabraea vagabunda, Phlyctema vagabunda, intermittent warming
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