Screening of Lactic Acid Bacteria for the Bio-Control of <i>Botrytis cinerea</i> and the Potential of <i>Lactiplantibacillus plantarum</i> for Eco-Friendly Preservation of Fresh-Cut Kiwifruit

• Main Authors: Nicola De Simone, Vittorio Capozzi, Maria Lucia Valeria de Chiara, Maria Luisa Amodio, Samira Brahimi, Giancarlo Colelli, Djamel Drider, Giuseppe Spano, Pasquale Russo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Microorganisms
• Subjects: <i>Botrytis cinerea</i>; post-harvest; kiwifruit; lactic acid bacteria; antifungal activity; bio-control
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/4/773

<i>Botrytis cinerea</i>, responsible for grey mold, represents the first biological cause of fruit and vegetable spoilage phenomena in post-harvest. Kiwifruit is a climacteric fruit particularly prone to this mold infestation during storage. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are food-grade bacteria that can synthesize several metabolites with antimicrobial activity and are, therefore, suggested as promising and eco-friendly resources for the bio-control of molds on fruits and vegetables. In this work, we propose the screening of a collection of 300 LAB previously isolated from traditional sourdoughs for their ability to counteract in vitro the growth of <i>Botrytis cinerea</i> CECT 20973. Only 2% of tested LAB strains belonging to <i>Lactiplantibacillus plantarum</i> species, exerted a strong antagonism against <i>B. cinerea</i>. The cell-free supernatants were partially characterized and results clearly indicated that high levels of lactic acid contributed to the antagonistic activity. PAN01 and UFG 121 cell-free supernatants were investigated as potential bio-control agents in a preliminary in vivo assay using freshly cut kiwifruits as a food model. The application of cell-free supernatants allowed to delay the growth of <i>B. cinerea</i> on artificially contaminated kiwifruits until two weeks. The antagonistic activity was greatly affected by the storage temperature (25 °C and 4 °C) selected for the processed fruits, suggesting the importance to include microbial-based solution in a broader framework of hurdle technologies.