Examining the response of Botrytis cinerea to aqueous ozone: inactivation kinetics, structure, physiology, and growth in different strawberries cultivars

ABSTRACT

This work aimed to study the kinetics and mechanisms of Botrytis cinerea conidia inactivation by aqueous ozone treatments (2.5 ± 0.8 mg O₃ L⁻¹ and 4.2 ± 0.2 mg O₃ L⁻¹, 0.5–16 min), using conventional plate count technique, flow cytometry analysis (FCM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of treatments on the mold incidence on two artificially contaminated strawberries cultivars over refrigerated storage (6 ± 1 °C) was also investigated. The inactivation pattern of B. cinerea conidial suspensions depended on initial level of the microorganism, dissolved ozone concentration and treatment time. Non-linear survival curves were obtained and fitted successfully with the Weibullian model. FCM and TEM analysis revealed alterations in the physiological state and ultrastructure of ozonated conidia that depended on the ozone dose. Ozonation (4.4 mg O₃L⁻¹, 5–10 min) reduced B. cinerea incidence throughout storage in strawberries of cv. Fortuna, but no effect was found in cv. Aroma.

KEYWORDS:

• Botrytis cinerea
• aqueous ozone
• inactivation
• single conidia analysis
• transmission electron microscopy
• strawberry
• decay

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19476337.2024.2339446

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas [PIP 252], Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica of Argentina [PICT 2020-3215], and Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID).