Respuesta in vitro de Penicillium ulaiense a fungicidas poscosecha

Abstract

Penicillium ulaiense is a pathogen of citrus fruits little known to date, since traditionally,pathogens belong to Penicillium sp. of citrus fruits have been identified as P. digitatum andP. italicum. However, P. ulaiense has been cited as a citrus pathogen since the 1980s inseveral countries, especially in Asia. The continuous development of fruits throughout thefive continents increases the hypothesis that this species has expanded to Europe,including Spain. In fact, P. ulaiense has already been detected in our country. It is possiblethat it is widespread can be unnoticed due to this species is very similar to the classicalPenicillium species which cause citrus decay, such as P. digitatum and P. italicum. In thiswork, growth of an isolate of this species is characterised and compared to P. digitatum andP. italicum. Likewise, the effect of the thiabendazole and pyrimethanil fungicides is studied.The results showed a very low growth rate and conidial dispersion of P. ulaiense colonieswith regard to P. digitatum and P. italicum. This low activity could be translated into ahigher control of conidia production by the use of the two fungicides tested.