Controlling fungal growth on fresh sweet corn by new natural microbiocidal formulations
V. Rodov, B. Horev, Y. Vinokur, G. Goldman and S. Ben-Yehoshua
Dept of Postharvest Science, ARO – The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
The work tested the efficacy of new microbiocidal formulations based on essential oil compounds or their derivatives (Israeli patent pending 145767) against fungal growth on trimmed fresh sweet corn. Corn slices were inoculated with Cladosporium herbarum, 105 sp/ml. On the next day, the slices were sprayed with one of the two microbiocidal formulations, either based on a natural essential oil compound citral or on a reactive-oxygen oil compound derivative (OCD), both in 1000 ppm concentration dissolved in 25% ethanol. The control samples were sprayed with water or 25% ethanol or were not sprayed at all. The slices were stored for 5 days at 20ºC and high humidity. The fungal growth was evaluated visually and by measuring the lightness (L value) of the cut cobs. Both formulations practically prevented the fungal growth, maintaining the cob lightness similar to non-inoculated samples. Ethanol had just slight effect on the fungal growth. The formulations had no phytotoxicity towards corn slices. Citral, but not OCD, left on the slices a slight foreign odor.