Citrus Green Mold Biocontrol by Novel Epiphytic Antagonist Combined with Safe Compounds Formulations

Shawky, Heba; Hassinen, Naziha; AboElseoud, Mohamed; Othman, Sameh

doi:10.21608/ejaps.2023.195258.1054

Citrus Green Mold Biocontrol by Novel Epiphytic Antagonist Combined with Safe Compounds Formulations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Plant Research Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, P.O: 13759, Egypt

² Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

10.21608/ejaps.2023.195258.1054

Abstract

We obtained 15 bacterial isolates, that were isolated from the peels of orange fruits. They were screened for their bioactivity against Penicillium digitatum, the causative agent of green mold disease. Only one isolate showed the highest antifungal activity, where the inhibition percentage reached 67% in the dual culture assay. Furthermore, this isolate was identified by the molecular technique of 16S rRNA. It is Enterobacter sp. (SH-87) strain with the accession number (GenBank accession number OP481922)). The biological activity of Enterobacter sp. (SH-87) was investigated on in vivo and in vitro. The in vitro results demonstrated that the metabolites in the filtrate, are effective in controlling the mycelial growth, also, it decreases the spore germination. On the other hand, the in vivo findings clarified that the fermentation liquid (FL) was effective in reducing both disease incidence of artificially infected oranges. So, it has been formulated with different safe compounds including chitosan CHS, salicylic acid SA, and cinnamic acid CA. The selected compounds showed an activity when processed with Enterobacter sp. into edible coatings (ECs) formulations, to be applied against citrus green mold decay. All additives were effective in controlling P. digitatum on plates and in planta. ECs displayed an efficacy when used to control green mold on orange fruits. Disease incidence declined significantly in response to preventive treatment by coating. Orange fruits with film solutions enriched with Enterobacter sp. This is the first study highlights that Enterobacter epiphytic antagonistic bacterium is a novel safebiocontrol agent that could be formulated to control citrus green mold disease.

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