Populations of Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium spp. on pear fruit, and in orchards and packinghouses, and their relationship to postharvest decay

The aims of this study were to examine the sources and population sizes of Botrytis cinema and Penicillium spp. in 'd'Anjou' pear orchards, packinghouses, and storage, and to determine the relationship between population sizes and postharvest decay. Densities of B. cinerea ranged from nondetectable to 4.0 CFU/cm2 on fruit, nondetectable to 3.1 CFU/liter in orchard air, and nondetectable to 1,167 CFU/g in orchard litter. The majority of packinghouse air and orchard soil samples collected yielded no B. cinerea inoculum. Densities of Penicillium spp. ranged from nondetectable to 2.7 CFU/cm2 on pear fruit, nondetectable to 3.13 CFU/liter in orchard air, nondetectable to 11.8 CFU/liter in packingline air, nondetectable to 3.9 CFU/liter in cold-storage air, 38 to 431 CFU/g in orchard soil, and 131 to 1,128 CFU/g in orchard litter. The mean incidence of gray mold in stored d'Anjou pear fruit ranged from 0.7 to 10.7%. Incidence of blue mold ranged from 0 to 16.5%. Significant positive correlations were observed between decay and fruit surface populations of B. cinema and Penicillium spp. In conclusion, inoculum levels of these important postharvest pathogens in orchard and packinghouse air, and orchard soil and litter, cannot be used as indicators of postharvest decay; whereas the inoculum level on fruit surfaces may be a useful predictor of decay.