EFFECT OF SOME PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL TREATMENTS ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF PEACH FRUIT ROT AGENTS DURING STORAGE AND MARKETING

Abstract

I. Isolation, identification and pathogenicity. 1. Different fungi were isolated from the collected diseased'peach fruits. These fungi were identified as Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium semitictum, Geotrichum candidum, Monilia fructicola, Mucor piriformis, Penicillium expansum and Rhizopus stolonifer. 2. The highest occurrence frequency of the isolated fungi were detected in R. stolonifer followed by P. expansum, A. alternata, M. piriformis, B. cinerea, G candidum, M fructicola, A. flavus and F. semitictum, respeeti vely. 3. Pathogenicity studies revealed that all the isolated fungi were pathogenic to peach fruits. Generally, R. stolonifer, B. cinerea and P. expansum, were more pathogenic than the other tested fungi. II. Effect of the main fruit- decaying fungi on newly introduced peach cultivars to Egypt. 4. Six peach cultivars, namely Florda Prince, Desert Red, T. Snow, T. Sweet, Swilling. and Meit Ghamr (the last cultivar Meit Ghamr is commonly cultivated in Egypt and was used for comparison) were tested for their susceptibility to the main fruit rot fungi. Florda Prince, T. Snow and Swilling were proved to be the most susceptible cultivar at room temperature to B. cinerea, P. expansum and R. stolonifer, respectively