In vitro studies on the effect of some chemicals on the growth and sporification of Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea.

Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea are among the pathogens most frequently affecting apples and grapes after harvest, respectively. We studied the behaviour of these moulds when subjected to different concentrations of methanol (MeOH) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a alternative method to fungicides in controlling postharvest decay of horticultural products. The experiments were performed with 5 cm Petri dishes containing PDA amended with 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 microL/mL of the two tested chemicals. Freshly prepared conidia of B. cinerea and P. expansum were sown onto the media and then kept into an incubation chamber at 21 degrees C up to 3 and 6 days, respectively. Daily, the colony forming units (cfu), the colony diameter and the degree of sporification were monitored. Compared to the control, both chemicals affected the growth rate of the two pathogens. The P. expansum and B. cinerea cfu value was not significantly inhibited but the colony diameter and the sporification degree decreased when concentration was raised. B. cinerea cultured on DMSO showed a significant drop of sporification up to the tested concentration of 10 microL/mL, and a complete inhibition of cfu when the concentration was higher than 20 microL/mL.