Defense response of cherry tomato at different maturity stages to combined treatment of hot air and Cryptococcus laurentii

Hot air (HA) treatment (38 degrees C, 12 h) and Cryptococcus laurentii were investigated separately or in combination for controlling postharvest decay caused by artificially inoculated with Botrytis cinerea, or natural infection in cherry tomato at different maturity stages. Results indicated that the combined treatment significantly reduced disease incidence of gray mold in cherry tomato at both mature green and pink stages regardless fruit were artificially inoculated with B. cinerea before or after treatment. The disease incidence of mature green fruit was lower than that of pink fruit with the same treatment. Similar results were observed on testing fruit with natural infection. HA could postpone fruit softening and increase the population density of C. laurentii in fruit wounds. Moreover, HA combined with C. laurentii induced higher activities of peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, chitinase, and beta-1, 3-glucanases than the control. These results suggest that HA combined with C. laurentii had a curative and preventive effect to control postharvest disease in cherry tomato at both mature green and pink stages. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.