Effect of Gamma Irradiation on Botrytis cinerea Causing Gray Mold and Cut Chrysanthemum Flowers

Abstract

Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is one of the most important postharvest fungal pathogens of cut flowers. Here, gamma irradiation, an alternative for phytosanitary purposes, and sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) were used to control B. cinerea in a cut chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) cultivar, ‘Baekma’, one of the cultivars susceptible to B. cinerea. Spore germination and mycelium growth of B. cinerea were inhibited by gamma irradiation in an inversely dose-dependent manner. A dose of 4 kGy completely inhibited the mycelium growth of B. cinerea. A significant change in flower quality (physical properties) on chrysanthemum was shown from gamma irradiation at over 0.2 kGy (p<0.05). Therefore, in this study, the integration of gamma ray (below 0.2 kGy) and NaDCC, an eco-friendly form of chlorine, was investigated to control the disease with low dose of gamma irradiation dose. Interestingly, the gamma irradiated flowers showed more disease severity than the non-irradiated flowers. The combined treatment of gamma irradiation and NaDCC does not affect the severity of the fungal disease, whereas only 70 ppm of NaDCC treatment showed a significantly reduced severity. These results suggest that only chlorination treatment can be applied to control B. cinerea in cut chrysanthemum flowers.

Keywords

• Botrytis cinerea
• Combined treatment
• Gamma irradiation