Biocontrol of Gray Mold Decay in Pear by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Strain BA3 and its Effect on Postharvest Quality Parameters

The economic losses caused by postharvest fruits diseases have attracted global attention. Traditional chemical fungicide could not meet the need of humans. In recent years, microbial agent which has begun to take the place of chemical fungicide comes into people’s vision. The aim of this paper was to investigate the potential of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain BA3 for its biocontrol capability on gray mold decay of pears and its effect on postharvest quality of pears. Compared with other treatments, the inhibition effect on gray mold of washed cell suspension of B. amyloliquefaciens was the best. Consequently it was utilized in subsequent experiments. Spore germination and germ tube length of Botrytis cinerea was 18.72% and 12.85 μm treated with BA3, while the control group was 62.88% and 30.44 μm. We confirmed that increase of the concentration of B. amyloliquefaciens, improved the efficacy of BA3 in controlling gray mold decay of pears. Colonization variation of BA3 in wounds of pears was recorded. To begin with, the populations of B. amyloliquefaciens increased rapidly and remained stable. On the fourth day, there was a declining trend, after that the population increased to 4 × 10⁵ CFU/wound and remained stable. BA3 had no significant effect on mass loss, titratable acidity, firmness and total soluble solids of pears that were stored at 25°C for 7 days comparing with control group. However, the effect of B. amyloliquefaciens on ascorbic acid was significantly higher than that of the control group. Our study indicates that B. amyloliquefaciens has a potential as postharvest biocontrol agent on pears.