Control of Green mold (Penicillium digitatum) on orange fruits using clove oil (Syzygium aromaticum).

Abstract

Orange is one of the citrus that spread out most widely in the world, and their fruits are affected with number of postharvest diseases that lead to decrease in commercial fruits life. Several symptoms were observed on fruits that exposed for sell in local market lead to their removal. This research was proposed to isolate and identify the causal pathogen of fruits rot and use of clove oil as alternative safe measure for fungicides. As for direct facing between commercial and essential oil and fungal inoculum inside the fruits, the results confirmed that surpass the essential oil rather than commercial oil in fruits protection and decreased the infection. The application methods of clove essential oil are important. So, dipping method was significantly better than touching and volatile method on control of green mold. The touching and volatile application at 1% concentration of clove essential oil had no effect on control of green mold.

Key words: Control, Green mold, Penicillium digitatum, Clove oil, Orange.