Quantitative relationships between different injury factors and development of brown rot caused by Monilinia fructigena in integrated and organic apple orchards

Molecular identification of isolated fungi from stored apples in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Fungi causes most plant disease. When fruits are stored at suboptimal conditions, fungi grows, and some produce mycotoxin which can be dangerous for human consumption. Studies have shown that the Penicillium and Monilinia species commonly cause spoilage of fruits, especially apples. Several other genera and species were reported to grow to spoil fruits. This study was conducted to isolate and identify fruit spoilage by fungi on apples collected in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and conduct a molecular identification of the fungal isolates. Thus, we collected 30 samples of red delicious and Granny Smith apples with obvious spoilage from different supermarkets between February and March of 2012 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Each apple was placed in a sterile plastic bag in room temperature (25-30 °C) for six days or until fungal growth was evident all over the sample. Growth of fungal colonies on PDA was counted and sent for molecular confirmation by PCR. Six fruit spoilage fungi were isolated, including Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium adametzii, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium steckii, Penicillium chrysogenum, and Aspergillus oryzae. P. chrysogenum was the most frequent isolate which was seen in 14 of a total of 34 isolates (41.2%), followed by P. adametzii and A. oryzae with seven isolates each (20.6%) and the least was P. steckii with six isolates (17.6%). Penicillium species comprised 27 of the total 34 (79.4%) isolates. Sequence analysis of the ITS regions of the nuclear encoded rDNA showed significant alignments for P. chrysogenum, P. adametzii and A. oryzae. Most of these fungal isolates are useful and are rarely pathogenic; however they can still produce severe illness in immune-compromised individuals, and sometimes otherwise healthy people may also become infected. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the possible production of mycotoxins by these fungi to determine a potential danger and to establish its epidemiology in order to develop adequate methods of control.

A new selective medium for the recovery and enumeration of Monilinia fructicola, M. fructigena, and M. laxa from stone fruits

Isolation of Monilinia spp. from stone and pome fruit surfaces is difficult due to the presence of several fast-growing fungal species such as Rhizopus, Alternaria, and Penicillium spp. Therefore, a new selective medium (acidified potato dextrose agar [pH 3.6] amended with fosetyl-aluminum [fosetyl-AL] at 500 microg/ml) (APDA-F500) was developed for the recovery of Monilinia propagules. The antifungal agents fosetyl-Al, dichloran, ammonium molybdate, and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-dD-glucose) were tested in potato dextrose agar (PDA) for their selective activity against Monilinia fructicola and seven common fungal contaminants of peach, including Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Colletotrichum acutatum, Gilbertella persicaria, Penicillium expansum, Phomopsis amygdali, and Rhizopus stolonifer. Dichloran, ammonium molybdate, and 2-dD-glucose inhibited spore germination and mycelial growth of all test fungi, including M. fructicola, at comparable levels. Fosetyl-Al added to PDA (PDA-F) at 500 or 1,000 microg/ml did not inhibit germination of any of the fungi but had a strong effect on mycelial growth of six of eight test fungi at 1,000 microg/ml, with the exceptions being R. stolonifer and M. fructicola. Germination and mycelial growth of M. fructicola were least affected on APDA-F500 compared with the other test fungi. On APDA-F500 at pH 3.2 and 3.6, germination of M. fructicola was not inhibited but mycelial growth was reduced by 54.2 and 24.2%, respectively. In all, 17 M. fructicola, 6 M. fructigena, and 6 M. laxa isolates collected from different geographic locations and diverse hosts were evaluated for their germination and mycelial growth on APDA-F500 (at pH 3.6). Germination was not inhibited for any isolate and relative mycelial growth was 45.8 to 83.3%. Field-grown peach fruit from South Carolina and Hungary and plum fruit from Hungary were used to test the selectivity of APDA-F500 for the recovery of three Monilinia spp. compared with PDA-F500 and Monilinia selective medium (MSM) previously developed for Monilinia spp. detection. Percent recovery of M. fructicola from South Carolinian peach fruit was highest on APDA-F500 (0, 17, and 69% in June, July, and August, respectively) compared with PDA-F500 (0, 3.5, and 50%, respectively) and MSM (0, 0, and 6.8%, respectively). Moreover, APDA-F500 selectively recovered M. fructigena and M. laxa propagules from the surfaces of Hungarian peach and plum fruit. Our results indicate that APDA-F500 is a useful medium for selective isolation and enumeration of the three most common Monilinia spp. attacking stone fruits worldwide.