Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Efficacy of Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil as a Bio-fungicide in Inhibiting Citrus Green Mould

M. M. Rahman
* ORCID logo ,
Ronald B.H. Wills
ORCID logo ,
Michael C Bowyer
,
Van Q. Vuong
,
John B. Golding
ORCID logo ,
Timothy Kirkman
,
Penta Pristijono
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 26 September 2023 / Approved: 27 September 2023 / Online: 27 September 2023 (07:20:57 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Rahman, M.M.; Wills, R.B.H.; Bowyer, M.C.; Vuong, V.Q.; Golding, J.B.; Kirkman, T.; Pristijono, P. Efficacy of Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil as a Bio-Fungicide in Inhibiting Citrus Green Mould. Plants 2023, 12, 3742. Rahman, M.M.; Wills, R.B.H.; Bowyer, M.C.; Vuong, V.Q.; Golding, J.B.; Kirkman, T.; Pristijono, P. Efficacy of Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil as a Bio-Fungicide in Inhibiting Citrus Green Mould. Plants 2023, 12, 3742.

Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of essential oil (EO) obtained from the Australian native plants, lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) (LM) to inhibit Penicillium digitatum by in vitro agar diffusion and vapor assay, and in inoculated oranges. Gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry analysis revealed the main constituent of LM EO as citral. Pure citral was also included in the experiment for com-parison. LM EO at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 µL disc-1 in the in vitro tests significantly inhibited fungal growth compared to the non-treated control. Moreover, LM EO at 4 and 5 µL disc-1 in both the assays completely inhibited fungal growth similar to its main component of citral. Inoculated oranges dipped in 1000 μL L-1 LM EO solutions for 5, 10, 15 and 30 sec showed significantly lower fungal wounds compared to control. While higher dipping times generated slight rind injury, a 5 and 10 sec dip did not cause any injury to the fruit rind. The quality assessments and sensory evaluations also revealed that the addition of LM EO did not adversely affect the quality and taste of the oranges. These findings suggest LM EO as an alternative to synthetic fungicides to inhibit wastage in citrus during storage.

Keywords

Lemon myrtle; essential oil; citral; citrus fruit; rind injury; Penicillium digitatum; sensory test

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Food Science and Technology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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