Improved control on decay and postharvest quality deterioration of strawberry by microbial antagonists

Strawberry is a fruit of high commerce but it is prone to many postharvest diseases such as gray mold, Rhizopus rot, leather rot and Aspergillus rot. Although various fungicides have been recommended for the management of postharvest diseases of strawberry but due to carcinogenicity and acute residual toxicity, their use is discouraged. Therefore, the postharvest application of antagonistic microorganisms has emerged as an effective strategy to combat decay caused by fungi. Three micro-organisms viz., Debaryomyces hansenii, Bacillus subtilis DTBS-5 and Pseudomonas fluorescens DTPF-3 were used at a concentration of 10⁷ log cfu/ml to control the postharvest diseases of ‘Winter Dawn’ strawberry fruits. Treated fruits were stored under ambient (25±2 ºC and 50–55% RH) and low temperature (5±1 ºC and 90% RH) storage conditions. Results revealed that among those antagonists, D. hansenii was able to effectively control the postharvest diseases of strawberry and maintain the fruit quality. Minimum decay (20.42%) was observed in Debaryomyces hansenii treated fruit whereas maximum fruit decay was observed in water washed (control) strawberry fruit (26.36%) under ambient conditions. Under ambient storage conditions, the treated fruits sustained till three days whereas at low temperature conditions, the fruit remained acceptable for 10 days. The physio-chemical parameters were well maintained in treated strawberry fruits till the end of storage both under low as well as ambient storage conditions as compared to the control fruit.