Penicillium citrinum and Penicillium mallochii: new phytopathogens of orange fruit and their control using chitosan

This study have demonstrated that chitosan is able to inhibit the growth in vitro and in vivo of two Penicillium species, which were isolated from decay oranges fruit and identified as Penicillium citrinum and Penicillium mallochii, using molecular methods. This is the first report of P. mallochii acting as an orange phytopathogen. The commercial chitosan with higher molecular weight demonstrated a reduction in the disease incidence of 50-70% for the inoculum P. citrinum and of 40% for the inoculum P. mallochii for the in vivo experiments. The data obtained opens interesting alternative options to synthetic fungicide to prevent orange decay caused by the potential phytopathogenic species of Penicillium here identified.
Source: Carbohydrate Polymers - Category: Biomedical Science Source Type: research