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Crop Stress and its Management: Perspectives and Strategies pp 497–515Cite as

Postharvest Biocontrol – New Concepts and Application

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Abstract

Fruits and vegetables are grown and consumed worldwide as they are source of nutrients and fiber in human diet. They are consumed either fresh or after processing and are produced on farms with conventional organic agricultural production methods or under intensively managed environmentally controlled glasshouses. It is not known when cultivation of first plant took place however domestication of plant species provided innumerable plant products required to satisfy the needs of living beings. As the plant species were selected for higher yield potential and better quality, the levels of resistance to biotic as well as abiotic stresses were depleted over long periods. Consequently, plant pathogenic fungi continue to inflict considerable losses in harvested yield and also reduced the aesthetic value and storage life of agricultural crops (Sharma N, Ghosh R, Post-harvest diseases of fruits and vegetables: an overview. In: Trivedi PC (ed) Plant diseases. Parima Publishing House, Jaipur, pp 49–71, 2000; Sharma 2004). Losses in quantity and quality of agricultural produce due to postharvest diseases have been proposed to be as high as that from field crop diseases, though precise estimates have not been made so far (Sharma N, Alam MM, Post-harvest diseases of horticultural perishables – an introduction. In: Sharma N, Alam MM (eds) Post-harvest diseases of horticultural perishables. International Book Distributing Company (Publishing Division), Lucknow. ISBN 81-85860-21-1, pp 1–27, 1998). However, considerable economic losses up to an extent of 10% are recorded in developed world which are higher in less industrial regions. Despite recent technological advances in the development of resistant varieties of crop plants using genetic engineering approaches (Punja ZK, Can J Plant Pathol 23:216–235, 2001), and with discoveries of novel, site specific fungicides (Bartlett DW, Pest Manag Sci 58:649–662, 2002) and ­continually evolving crop protection practices, fungal plant pathogens continue to find opportunities to destroy crop plants. The challenges for producers in managing these diseases are ever increasing as consumer demand for year round production of fresh products with reduced or no pesticides residues continue to grow. Concerns over the potential impact of disease management practices including the use of fungicides on the environment or on consumer health have promoted producers to examine alternatives to combat these postharvest diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mycology and Plant Pathology Division, Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, 226 007, India

    Neeta Sharma, Swati Sharma & Basant Prabha

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  1. Neeta Sharma
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  2. Swati Sharma
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  3. Basant Prabha
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Correspondence to Neeta Sharma .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Crop Sciences, Central Research Institute for Dryland A, Saidabad P.O, Hyderabad, 500 059, Andra Pradesh, India

    B. Venkateswarlu

  2. Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Dept. Crop Sciences, Central Research Institute for, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad, 500059, India

    Arun K. Shanker

  3. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Rajender Nagar, Hyderabad, 500030, India

    Chitra Shanker

  4. , Crop Sciences, Central Research Institute for Dryland A, Saidabad P.O, Hyderabad, 500 059, Andra Pradesh, India

    M. Maheswari

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Sharma, N., Sharma, S., Prabha, B. (2012). Postharvest Biocontrol – New Concepts and Application. In: Venkateswarlu, B., Shanker, A., Shanker, C., Maheswari, M. (eds) Crop Stress and its Management: Perspectives and Strategies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2220-0_15

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