Botryodiplodia sp. - Crops for the Future

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valuable consultations in industrial, scientific and technological areas and offers the major analytic services which are necessary for the public and private sector industry. Among other things food- and product assays, soil- and water analyses and functional tests are carried out at ITI (ITI, 2001). In 1991 the research and development policies and strategies were reformulated as the demands of industry and other private sectors have changed. This new policy underlined the need to be market oriented and demand driven with respect to its research and development and service function with a view to being self-financing. Today the ITI maintains its premier role as an interdisciplinary research institute in Sri Lanka dedicated to the promotion of industrial development through research, consultancy and other technical services and stands committed to serve the nation to meet the challenges of the future (ITI, 2007). The ITI has about 355 staff and is structured in six divisions, which consist of specialized groups (Annexes, Figure 34). The author main working place was located in the Post Harvest Technology Group of the Agro and Food Technology Division. The group consists out of eight people. 5 Reason for research project Recent studies have shown the importance of products of underutilised fruits, such as jams, juices and candied fruits with regard to nutrition, income generation and poverty reduction of small scale entrepreneurs in developing countries (AZAM-ALI, 2003). Underutilised tropical fruits such as rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) and annona (Annona sp.) provide important contributions to small-holder livelihoods. However, heavy post-harvest losses significantly reduce the full potential for income generation. The Post Harvest Technology Group of ITI is working on a project which develops biological non chemical methods for control of post harvest diseases of tropical fruits such as mango, banana and papaya as well as working together with ICUC on promising underutilised species such as rambutan and annona. The project presented here was part of this research program. The stem-end rot is caused by the fungus Botryodiplodia sp. and is one of the major post harvest diseases on many fruits (GUPTA et al., 1999, PLOETZ, 2003 and ALAM et al., 2001). Among others it counts to the most important pre- and post harvest diseases on rambutan (SIVAKUMAR et al., 1997) and annona species (DE Q. PINTO, 2005). The use of the mycoparasitic fungus Trichoderma sp. as a bio-control agent represents an alternative plant protection 10
measure to chemical treatments. The effectiveness of Trichoderma sp. against certain fungi has been proven in a number of experiments (SIVAKUMAR et al., 2000, BARBOSA et al., 2001 and WANTOCH-REKOWSKI, 2004). The following three points were the main task of the study which is described in this report: • To establish whether bio-control agents are widely available in Sri Lanka. • To prove the efficacy of the bio-control agents against the pathogen. • To prove whether diseased fruits of various species infect each other. 6 The plants 6.1 Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) Rambutan belongs to the family of Sapindaceae. Its common botanical name is Nephelium lappaceum, but there are two other synonym names: Euphoria nephelium and Dimocarpus crinita (MORTON, 1987a). The family Sapindaceae includes many fruit species but only rambutan, litchi (Litchi chinensis) and longan (Euphoria longana) have commercial importance (REHM and ESPIG, 1984). The origin of the fruit is Malaysia and it is mostly cultivated in Southeast Asia. A few rambutan trees are also grown in the costal lowlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Cuba. Some trees are also cultivated in Australia. (LAKSMI et al., 1987). Rambutan flourishes best in humid tropical regions with well distributed rainfall (2500-3000 mm) and in deep soils with high organic matter. The plant grows from sea level to 500 m height and needs temperatures over 10 °C. The dry season should not last more than three months (REHM and ESPIG, 1984). According to MORTON (1987a) the Oriental Mindora region of the Philippines with an average temperature of about 27.3 °C, a relative humidity of 82 % and about 165 rainy days is the ideal environment. The name rambutan comes from the Malayan word “rambut” and means hairy, which correlates with the appearance of the fruit. 6.1.1 Description of the plant/fruit The height of the rambutan tree varies between the different varieties and the method of cultivation from 8 to 25 m (BAERTELS, 1990, FRANKE, 1994 and MORTON, 1987a). The evergreen tree has alternate pinnate 7 to 30 cm long leaves with 1 to 4 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are elliptic to oblong, pale shining with a dark-green colour. 11
Page 1: Control of Post Harvest Disease (Bo
Page 4 and 5: List of Figures Figure 1: The Sri L
Page 6 and 7: 1 Summary Experiments were undertak
Page 8 and 9: 3 Sri Lanka The Democratic Socialis
Page 10 and 11: 3.2 Climate The climate of Sri Lank
Page 14 and 15: Rambutan trees are either dioecious
Page 16 and 17: However, the most important genus i
Page 18 and 19: 6.2.1.2 Annona muricata Annona muri
Page 20 and 21: Figure 9: Annona squamosa Figure 10
Page 22 and 23: Characteristically for this fungus
Page 24 and 25: Figure 15: Phialides of Trichoderma
Page 26 and 27: autoclave is used for liquid steril
Page 28 and 29: Figure 21: Soil sampling in a rambu
Page 30 and 31: 9.1.4 Isolation of the pathogen Mat
Page 32 and 33: The effectivity of the BC-agent was
Page 34 and 35: Figure 29: Experimental series of a
Page 36 and 37: Two of the Trichoderma sp. with a h
Page 38 and 39: Results of the sporulation experime
Page 40 and 41: 12 References ALAM, M.S., BEGUM, M.
Page 42 and 43: ONG, P.K.C., ACREE, T.E. and LAVIN,
Page 44 and 45: Figure 36: List of bio-control agen
Page 46: Tmu III Galagedera • Mycelial gro

Botryodiplodia sp. - Crops for the Future

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