Biological Control of Post-Harvest Citrus Diseases

Post- harvest rot of citrus fruits is one of the most important limiting factors that reduce the life of harvested products and are one of the most important economical diseases in world’s citrus production areas. Two most important fungi that affect the citrus fruits, are green and blue molds which are produced by Penicillium digitatum and P. italicum, respectively. The disease are mainly managed by using the synthetic fungicides, but because of environmental hazards and appearance of resistant strains of the pathogen, the biological control by the use of bacterial, fungal and yeast antagonists can be suggested. The efficiency of yeasts such as Candida guilliermondii, C. saitoan, Pichia guilliermondi and Aureobasidium pullulans; the bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, Pantoea agglomerans and the fungus Muscodor albus, in controlling the green and blue molds of citrus is reported so far. In this paper, we tried to explain the method of biological control with emphasizing on the identification of useful microorganisms and their operation.