In vitro antifungal activity of essential oils against Botrytis cinerea of postharvest grapes

Abstract Botrytis cinerea is a widespread pathogen that infects a wide variety of plants. Postharvest grape infects with B. cinerea results in fruit rot and drop. In this study, the inhibitory effect of 30 kinds of plant essential oils on B. cinerea was investigated through in vitro experiments, and the types and concentrations of essential oils with the best inhibitory effect on B. cinerea of postharvest grapes were screened. The results showed that 10 essential oils completely inhibited the growth of B. cinerea when the concentration of essential oils was 1000 μL/L. After reducing the concentration of these 10 essential oils to 500 μL/L, 5 essential oils showed continuous fungistasis effect on B. cinerea. The concentration of these five essential oils dropped to 250 μL/L, and only garlic essential oil showed long-lasting antifungal benefit. But which showed no long-lasting antifungal benefit at 125 μL/L. Therefore, garlic essential oil higher than 125 μL/L has sustained antifungal effect on B. cinerea, which can be used for postharvest preservation and storage of grapes.