Post-harvest Pathology

As a collection of papers that includes material present at the 2013 International Congress for Plant Pathology, this text features research right at the leading edge of the field. The findings are crucial in their implications for fruit production; an important marker sector where in some areas up to 50 percent of the crop can be lost after harvest.  While postharvest fruit treatments with fungicides are the most effective means to reduce decay, rising concerns about toxicity and resistance. This has led to the development of alternative approaches for disease control, including biological control methods, the subject of some of the chapters of this book. With several new techniques requiring modification of the current postharvest practices, it is more important than ever to test new approaches as radio frequency and essential oils. Other chapters deal with the mechanism of host fruit and vegetable resistance and host response, fungal pathogenicity factors and their relationship with the host response. Special attention was given to the mechanism of pH regulation of pathogenicity by postharvest pathogens.