Chlorine dioxide for reduction of postharvest pathogen inoculum during handling of tree fruits.
Roberts, R.G. and Reymond, S.T.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Volume 60, Number 8, Aug 1994. Pages 2864–2868.
1994
บทคัดย่อ
Alternatives to hypochlorous acid and fungicides are needed for treatment of fruit and fruit-handling facilities. Chlorine dioxide was evaluated and found effective against common postharvest decay fungi and against filamentous fungi occurring on fruit packinghouse surfaces. In vitro tests with conidial or sporangiospore suspensions of Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium expansum, Mucor piriformis, and Cryptosporiopsis perennans demonstrated >99% spore mortality within 1 min when the fungi were exposed to aqueous chlorine dioxide at 3 or 5 microgram ml-1. Longer exposure times were necessary to achieve similar spore mortalities with 1 microgram ml-1. Of the fungi tested, B. cinerea and P. expansum were the least sensitive to ClO2. In comparison with the number recovered from untreated control areas, the number of filamentous fungi recovered was significantly lower in swipe tests from hard surfaces such as belts and pads in a commercial apple and pear packinghouse after treatment of surfaces with a 14.0- to 18.0-microgram ml-2 ClO2 foam formulation. Chlorine dioxide has desirable properties as a sanitizing agent for postharvest decay management when residues of postharvest fungicides are not desired or allowed.