DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANCE TO PICKING WOUND ENTRY BOTRYTIS-CINEREA STORAGE ROTS IN KIWIFRUIT

The effects of inoculation and cool-storage delays, factors affecting fruit composition (harvest date, vine, soluble solids content, positio n in canopy), and preharvest treatment with salicyclic acid on the inc idence of Botrytis cinerea storage rots in kiwifruit were investigated . 'Hayward' kiwifruit picked during the 1992 and 1993 harvest seasons with pedicels attached were inoculated by applying mixed germinated an d ungerminated Botrytis cinerea conidia to wounds formed by removal of the pedicels. The incidence of rots was consistently high (82-88%) wh en inoculation was within 0.1 h of picking and fruit was cooled rapidl y. Where cooling and inoculation were delayed the incidence declined s ignificantly. In these instances it varied with vine and harvest date with no apparent dependence on fruit maturity. The salicylic acid trea tment significantly reduced the incidence of storage rots.