Bioactivity of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater Against Plant Pathogens and Post-Harvest Diseases

ABSTRACT

The antifungal activity of olive oil mill wastewater (olive OMW) was investigated. The effect of sterilized and filter sterilized olive OMW was tested in vitro: a) on mycelium growth of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici, Pythium spp., Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Verticillium dahliae on PDA agar plates; b) on sporulation of Penicillium italicum and P. digitatum and Botrytis cinerea on infested with the pathogens fruit and-vegetables (oranges and red horn peppers) and c) on planta, tomato plants infested with the fungus F. oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici. The results show that the filter sterilized olive OMW inhibits the mycelium growth of all tested fungi in vitro, probably due to phenolic compounds which are contained in olive OMW. Furthermore, olive OMW decreased fungi spores' number on infested fruits-vegetables and acted positively on tomato plants fresh weights, infested with the soil borne pathogen F. oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici.

Keywords:

• olive oil mill wastewater
• antifungal activity
• plant and post-harvest diseases