Atmospheric cold plasma decontamination of Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia spp. on fresh nectarine fruit

Nectarines are climacteric fruit and highly perishable due to high physiological activity and moisture content.
Furthermore, nectarine fruit are susceptible to fungal infection during postharvest handling and storage at room or cold storage.
Recently, use of cold plasma treatment has been introduced as a novel postharvest strategy to control fungal infection in fresh fruit.
In this study the in vivo antifungal effects of atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) (5 min, 50 kV) against Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia spp. on nectarine fruit stored at 20°C was investigated.
The decontamination efficacy of the ACP treatment was evaluated immediately after treatment and at the end of storage duration (day 9). Inoculated nectarine fruit without ACP treatment were stored as control.
The ACP treatment reduced the growth of Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia spp. by 2.2 Log CFU mL^‑1 immediately after treatment.
This study demonstrates ACP treatment can effectively inhibit the growth of both Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia spp. during storage.

V All Africa Horticultural Congress – AAHC2024

Z.A. Belay, N.A. Matrose, O.J. Caleb

Prunus persica, postharvest decay, storage, lesion area, shelf life

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1422.50