Food loss of fruit and vegetables caused by postharvest diseases is a major issue worldwide. The method used to prevent and control postharvest diseases is usually to use chemical fungicides, but long-term and large-scale use will make the pathogens resistant and potentially have a negative impact on human health and the ecological environment. Therefore, finding a safe and effective biological control method instead of chemical control is a hot research topic in recent years. Endophytes, colonizing plants asymptomatically, can promote the growth of the hosts and enhance their resistance. The use of endophytes as biological control agents for postharvest diseases of fruit and vegetables has attracted increasing attention in the last 20 years. Compared with chemical control, endophytes have the advantages of being more environmentally friendly, sustainable, and safer. However, there are relatively few relevant studies, so herein we summarize the available literature. This review focuses mainly on the recent progress of using endophytes to enhance the resistance of postharvest fruit and vegetables to diseases, with the emphasis on the possible mechanisms and the potential applications. Furthermore, this article suggests future areas for study using antagonistic endophytes to prevent and control fruit and vegetable postharvest diseases: (i) screening more potential broad-spectrum anti-pathogen endophytes and their metabolic active substances by the method of macrogenomics; (ii) elucidating the underlining molecular mechanism among endophytes, harvested vegetables and fruit, pathogens, and microbial communities; (iii) needing more application research to overcome the difficulties of commercialization practice. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Potential of microbial endophytes to enhance the resistance to postharvest diseases of fruit and vegetables.

Successful biocontrol of major postharvest and soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi by antagonistic yeasts

In view of the growing concern about the impact of synthetic fungicides on human health and the environment, several government bodies have decided to ban them. As a result, a great number of studies have been carried out in recent decades with the aim of finding a biological alternative to inhibit the growth of fungal pathogens. In order to avoid the large losses of fruit and vegetables that these pathogens cause every year, the biological alternative's efficacy should be the same as that of a chemical pesticide. In this review, the main studies discussed concern Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeasts as potential antagonists against phytopathogenic fungi of the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus and the species Botrytis cinerea on table grapes, wine grapes, and raisins.

https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/10/7/1650/pdf

The role of yeasts as biocontrol agents for pathogenic fungi on postharvest grapes : A review

Aureobasidium pullulans S-2 reduced the disease incidence of tomato by influencing the postharvest microbiome during storage

Bioprospection of Metschnikowia sp. isolates as biocontrol agents against postharvest fungal decays on lemons with their potential modes of action

Fruit plays an important role in human diet. Whereas, fungal pathogens cause huge losses of fruit during storage and transportation, abuse of chemical fungicides leads to serious environmental pollution and endangers human health. Antagonistic yeasts (also known as biocontrol yeasts) are promising substitutes for chemical fungicides in the control of postharvest decay owing to their widespread distribution, antagonistic ability, environmentally friendly nature, and safety for humans. Over the past few decades, the biocontrol mechanisms of antagonistic yeasts have been extensively studied, such as nutrition and space competition, mycoparasitism, and induction of host resistance. Moreover, combination of antagonistic yeasts with other agents or treatments were developed to improve the biocontrol efficacy. Several antagonistic yeasts are used commercially. In this review, the application of antagonistic yeasts for postharvest decay control is summarized, including the antagonistic yeast species and sources, antagonistic mechanisms, commercial applications, and efficacy improvement. Issues requiring further study are also discussed.

Xiaokang Zhang

Papers

Antagonistic Yeasts: A Promising Alternative to Chemical Fungicides for Controlling Postharvest Decay of Fruit.