title: Effectiveness of phenolic compounds against citrus green mould.
abstract: Stored citrus fruit suffer huge losses because of the development of green mould caused by Penicillium digitatum. Usually synthetic fungicides are employed to control this disease, but their use is facing some obstacles, such public concern about possible adverse effects on human and environmental health and the development of resistant pathogen populations. In the present study quercetin, scopoletin and scoparone--phenolic compounds present in several agricultural commodities and associated with response to stresses--were firstly tested in vitro against P. digitatum and then applied in vivo on oranges cv. Navelina. Fruits were wound-treated (100 µg), pathogen-inoculated, stored and surveyed for disease incidence and severity. Although only a minor (≤13%) control effect on P. digitatum growth was recorded in vitro, the in vivo trial results were encouraging. In fact, on phenolic-treated oranges, symptoms appeared at 6 days post-inoculation (DPI), i.e., with a 2 day-delay as compared to the untreated control. Moreover, at 8 DPI, quercetin, scopoletin, and scoparone significantly reduced disease incidence and severity by 69%-40% and 85%-70%, respectively, as compared to the control. At 14 DPI, scoparone was the most active molecule. Based on the results, these compounds might represent an interesting alternative to synthetic fungicides.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti, Università degli Studi Aldo Moro, Via G. Amendola 165/A, Bari 70126, Italy. simonamarianna.sanzani@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Simona M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Sanzani
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi Mediterranea, Località Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria 89124, Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schena
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti, Università degli Studi Aldo Moro, Via G. Amendola 165/A, Bari 70126, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ippolito
mesh_terms: D002957:Citrus / Q000382:microbiology*; D003374:Coumarins / Q000494:pharmacology; D005638:Fruit / Q000382:microbiology*; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010407:Penicillium / Q000187:drug effects*; D010636:Phenols / Q000494:pharmacology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D011794:Quercetin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012603:Scopoletin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003374:Coumarins; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial; D010636:Phenols; D011794:Quercetin; C018145:scoparone; D012603:Scopoletin