Abstract
Geotrichum candidum is an important pathogen causing sour rot in fruit and vegetables. In this study, G. candidum was identified as a pathogen causing postharvest tomato fruit rot for the first time in Greece. The effect of temperatures and incubation period on the mycelial growth and conidia germination of G. candidum was investigated. It was also found that the optimum temperature for the mycelial growth and conidia germination of G. candidum was 25°C, while this pathogen was also very active at temperatures between 15 and 30°C. Incubation at 40°C inhibited mycelial growth and conidial germination of G. candidum. Conidia germinated after an 8-h incubation period with a higher percentage after 16h. In addition to the above studies, the effectiveness of fludioxonil and propiconazole against G. candidum was evaluated. EC50 values of G. candidum isolates for propiconazole ranged from 0.050 to 0.250 μl/ml, while this fungicide inhibited the growth of the fungus on tomatoes. In contrast, the EC50 values for the effect of fludioxonil were 3.057 to 3.891μg/ml, while this fungicide was not effective against G. candidum on tomatoes. Generally, this study showed G. candidum as a new threat for tomatoes in Greece. This pathogen can develop in a wide range of temperatures. Propiconazole seems to be an effective fungicide against G. candidum in tomatoes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Adaskaveg JE, Crisosto CH (2006) Sour rot control. Central Valley Postharvest Newsletter 15:2–5
Ahmed FA, Sipes BS, Alvarez AM (2017) Postharvest diseases of tomato and natural products for disease management. African Journal of Agricultural Research 12:684–691
Barnett HL, Hunter BB (1998) Illustrated Genera of Imperfect Fungi, 4th edn. APS Press
Baudoin ABAM, Eckert JW (1982) Factors influencing the susceptibility of lemons to infection by Geotrichum candidum. Phytopathology 72:1592–1597
Birgen JK (2017) Effects of stages of maturity on the susceptibility of tomato fruits to postharvest fungal pathogens. International Journal of Plant Animal Science 5:140–147
Bourret TB, Kramer EK, Rogers JD, Glawe DA (2013) Isolation of Geotrichum candidum pathogenic to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in Washington State. North American Fungi 8:1–7
Boutrou R, Guéguen M (2005) Interests in Geotrichum candidum for cheese technology. International Journal of Food Microbiology 102:1–20
Cochran A, Adaskaveg J, Förster H (2009) Propiconazole and fludioxonil for managing postharvest fungal decays of fresh market tomato. APS 2009 Annual Meeting Abstract of Presentation, August 1-5, Portland, Oregon.
Dantigny P, Bensoussan M, Vasseur V, Lebrihi A, Buchet C, Ismaili-Alaoui M, Devlieghere F, Roussos S (2006) Standardisation of methods for assessing mould germination: a workshop report. International Journal of Food Microbiology 108:286–291
Dhingra OD, Sinclair JB (1985) Basic plant pathology methods. CRC Press, Florida
Galdames EVAG (2015) Efecto de fungicidas sobre poblaciones epifitas de Geotrichum candidum Link ex Pers. Msc Thesis, Universidad de Chile.
Hafeez R, Akhtar N, Shoaib A, Bashir U, Haider MS, Awan ZA (2015) First report of Geotrichum candidum from Pakistan causing postharvest sour rot in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). Journal of Animal Plant Science 25:1737–1740
Horita H, Hatta Y (2016) Sour rot of carrot caused by Geotrichum candidum in Japan. Journal of General Plant Pathology 82:65–68
Hudecová A, Valík L, Liptáková D (2009) Influence of temperature on the surface growth of Geotrichum candidum. Acta Chimica Slovaca 2:75–87
Hussain M, Hamid MI, Ghazanfar MU, Akhtar N, Raza M (2016) First report of fruit rot of strawberry caused by Geotrichum candidum in Pakistan. Plant Disease 100:1948
Kassim MY, Khan S (1996) Effect of temperature on growth of Penicillium digitatum and Geotrichum candidum on agar and on citrus fruit and chemical control of post-harvest rot caused by the two fungi. Journal of King Saud University Science 8:33–37
McKay AH (2011) Population structure of the sour rot pathogens Galactomyces citri-aurantii and G. geotrichum and evaluation of sterol demethylation inhibitors for postharvest management of citrus decays. PhD Thesis, University of California, Riverside.
McKay AH, Förste H, Adaskaveg JE (2012) Toxicity and resistance potential of selected fungicides to Galactomyces and Penicillium spp. causing postharvest fruit decays of citrus and other crops. Plant Disease 96:87–96
Medveďová A, Liptáková D, Hudecová A, Valík L (2008) Quantification of the growth competition of lactic acid bacteria: a case of co-culture with Geotrichum candidum and Staphylococcus aureus. Acta Chimica Slovaca 1:192–207
Michailides TJ, Morgan DP, Day KR (2004) First report of sour rot of California peaches and nectarines caused by yeasts. Plant Disease 88:222
Oladiran AO, Iwu NL (1993) Studies on the fungi associated with tomato fruit rots and effects of environment on storage. Mycopathologia 121:157–161
Plaza P, Usall J, Teixido N, Vinas I (2003) Effect of water activity and temperature on germination and growth of Penicillium digitatum P. italicum and Geotrichum candidum. Journal of Applied Microbiology 94:549–554
Pottier I, Gente S, Vernoux JP, Guéguen M (2008) Safety assessment of dairy microorganisms: Geotrichum candidum. International Journal of Food Microbiology 126:327–332
Sajad AM, Jamaluddin Abid HQ (2017) Fungi associated with the spoilage of post harvest tomato fruits and their frequency of occurrences in different markets of Jabalpur, Madhya-Pradesh, India. International Journal of Current Research and Review 9:12–16
Wells JM (1977) Sour rot of peaches caused by Monilinia implicata and Geotrichum candidum. Phytopathology 67:404–408
White TJ, Bruns TD, Lee S, Taylor J (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols, a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 315–322
Wyatt MK, Parish ME (1995) Spore germination of citrus juice-related fungi at low temperatures. Food Microbiology 12:237–243
Yaghmour MA, Bostock RM, Adaskaveg JE, Michailides TJ (2012) Propiconazole sensitivity in populations of Geotrichum candidum, the cause of sour rot of peach and nectarine, in California. Plant Disease 96:752–758
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
T. T. made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; I. P.: drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content; A. F.: approved the version to be published; and A. Z.: agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Human and animal rights
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(XLSX 215 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thomidis, T., Prodromou, I., Farmakis, A. et al. Effect of temperature on the growth of Geotrichum candidum and chemical control of sour rot on tomatoes. Trop. plant pathol. 46, 545–552 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-021-00453-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-021-00453-1