Abstract
Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is a common postharvest disease in strawberries, reducing shelf life considerably. We investigated the potential of the yeast-like biocontrol fungus Aureobasidium pullulans (AP-SLU6) vectored by bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) in the Flying Doctors ® system to inhibit the pathogen and increase the shelf life of harvested strawberries (cultivar Sonata). Using bumblebees as vectors of various biocontrol agents is becoming increasingly popular, but any potentially negative effects on bee performance have been understudied. Our results show that, over the 4-week period of the trial, the performance and activity of the bees were not negatively affected by A. pullulans. The bees successfully picked up the powder formulation; then, they carried and deposited it on the flowers. The vectoring of the biocontrol agent significantly reduced gray mold development on the harvested fruits by 45% and increased shelf life by 100% in comparison with control treatments. This suggests that the biocontrol fungus applied during flowering successfully reduced Botrytis infection and thus, effectively protected the fruits from gray mold. In addition, the bee-vectored application of the biocontrol agent was found to be significantly more effective than spray application because the latter may temporarily increase humidity around the flower, thereby creating a suitable environment for the pathogen to thrive. In summary, our study demonstrates that A. pullulans vectored by bumblebees can decrease gray mold infection and improve the shelf life of strawberries without adversely affecting the bees, thus providing a basis for the sustainable and efficient control of gray mold on strawberry. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license .
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
A. pullulans did not negatively affect bee performance and activity over four weeks.
- Taxon
- Strawberry
_single2.jpg?width=60)
Fragaria ×ananassat0 - Interactor
- A. pullulans
Aureobasidium pullulanse0biocontrol_agent - Outcome
- performance and activity of the beese0
- Direction
- not negatively affectede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_single2.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“over the 4-week period of the trial, the performance and activity of the bees were not negatively affected by A. pullulans”
t0“Strawberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Bees picked up the formulation and deposited it on strawberry flowers.
- Taxon
- StrawberryFragaria ×ananassat0
- Organ / stage
- flowerse0
- Interactor
- beesAnthophilae0pollinator
- Outcome
- carried and deposited it on the flowerse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The bees successfully picked up the powder formulation; then, they carried and deposited it on the flowers”
t0“Strawberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Bee vectoring reduced harvested-fruit gray mold development 45% relative to controls.
- Taxon
- StrawberryFragaria ×ananassat0
- Organ / stage
- harvested fruitse0
- Treatment
- vectoring of the biocontrol agente0
- Outcome
- gray mold development on the harvested fruitse0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 45%e0
- Comparator
- control treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The vectoring of the biocontrol agent significantly reduced gray mold development on the harvested fruits by 45% and increased shelf life by 100% in comparison with control treatments”
t0“Strawberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Bee vectoring increased strawberry shelf life by 100% relative to controls.
- Taxon
- StrawberryFragaria ×ananassat0
- Treatment
- vectoring of the biocontrol agente0
- Outcome
- shelf lifee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 100%e0
- Comparator
- control treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The vectoring of the biocontrol agent significantly reduced gray mold development on the harvested fruits by 45% and increased shelf life by 100% in comparison with control treatments”
t0“Strawberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Bee-vectored application was more effective than spray application.
- Taxon
- StrawberryFragaria ×ananassat0
- Treatment
- bee-vectored application of the biocontrol agente0
- Outcome
- more effectivee0
- Direction
- more effectivee0
- Comparator
- spray applicatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the bee-vectored application of the biocontrol agent was found to be significantly more effective than spray application”
t0“Strawberry”
The same questions in other papers
biocontrol · quality: postharvest · Fragaria x ananassa (strawberry)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- positive
biocontrol · growth · Fragaria x ananassa (strawberry)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.