Control del moho azul en poscosecha de manzana con productos naturales Control of apple postharvest blue mold by natural products

Plant extracts for the control of plant disease are emerging as promising alternatives to the use of synthetic fungicides. The objective of this work was to study the effect of plant extracts and essential oils on naturally infected apple fruits with Penicillium spp. causal agent of blue mold. Apple fruits were immersed in citric and Azadirachta indica extracts at concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0% (v/v), stored at room temperature (25 °C and 90% RH) and analyzed at 21 days after the application of the treatments. Evaluated also the effect of fumigation of apple fruits with essential oils of Thymus vulgaris, Origanum vulgaris, Mentha piperita and Melaleuca alternifolia. Treated fruits were stored at 25±2 °C and 90±5% relative humidity for 20 days. Treated fruit with distilled water constituted the group controls. The higher values of incidence (100%), severity (99.98%) and the lowest percentage of disease control (4.56%) were observed in apple fruits treated with distilled water (group control). All treatments exhibited inhibitory effect on Penicillium spp. in apple fruits, however, A. indica and citric extracts, at concentrations of 1.0%, had a disease control of 98.33% and 99.57%, respectively. There were no significant differences between the oils applied; except between these and the control. However, the treatments with essential oils were that exhibited the least incidence, severity and control of the disease. The results showed that essential oils showed good results, above 98.1% of control of blue mold disease in postharvest. It was demonstrated that extracts the different concentration and essential oils have antifungal activities and that they have a potential use as an alternative control in relation to chemical methods.