Efficiency of Salicylic Acid Application on Postharvest Perishable Crops - Salicylic Acid: Plant Growth and Development - page 343

Table 2 Effect of SA on control postharvest diseases in different postharvest horticultural
commodities
Commodity Recommend

concentration

Pathogen resistance Author (s)

Chamelaucium uncinatum
(Geraldton waxflower) 2.0 mmol/L Alternaria sp.,

Epicoccum sp.

Beasley et al. ( 1999 )

Mangifera indica (mango) 2.0 mmol/ Collectotrichum

gloeosporioides

Zainuri et al. ( 2001 )

Prunus avium (sweet cherry) 0.5 mmol/L Penicillum expansum Qin et al. ( 2003 )

2.0-3.0 mmol/
L

A. alternate Gholami et al.

( 2010 )

2.0 mmol/L Monilinia fructicola Yao and Tian ( 2005 )

Fragaria ananassa cv. Selva
(strawberry)

1.0-2.0 mmol/
L

Botrytis cinerea Babalar et al. ( 2007 )

Pyrus pyriflora L. (pear) 1.0 mmol/L Botrytis cinerea Asghari et al. ( 2009 )

Vitis vinifery L.(grape) 1.0-4.0 mmol/

L

Botrytis cinerea Sarikhani et al.

( 2010 )

Lycopersicon esculentum L 5.0 mmol/L Botrytis cinerea Wang et al. ( 2011 )

cv. Fenhong (tomato)
Actinidia deliciosa (kiwifruit) 32 lL/L Botrytis cinerea Aghdam et al.

( 2011 )

exogenous SA may have an anti-pathogenic function in fruits where endogenous
SA level is correlated with induced resistance to the invading pathogens (Malamy
et al. 1990 ). SA is shown to regulate the expression of pathogenesis related protein
genes, which suggests its role as a signal molecule in providing resistance against
pathogen attack. Such signaling molecules, when exogenously applied move sys-
temically through plants, resulting in the expression of a set of defense genes that
are activated by pathogen infection, thus inducing resistance against the pathogens
(Epple et al. 1997 ). SA mediates hypersensitive and systemic acquired resistance
against pathogen attack by inhibiting catalase activity, which subsequently raises
intracellular H 2 O 2 concentration resulting in activated expression of defense
related genes. Several reports indicated that exogenous application of SA could
induce the expression of many defense genes (Loake and Grant 2007 ; Wang et al.
2007 ). Moreover, SA treatment is subsequently found to induce pathogenesis-
related (PR) proteins gene expression and/or resistance to viral, bacterial, and
fungal pathogens in many plant species. Moreover, Wang et al. ( 2011 ) confirmed
that SA significantly suppressed decay and disease incidence from Botrytis cinerea
showing a typical gray mold symptom in tomato fruits at both mature green and
breaker stages, along with higher expression level of PR gene after 2 days of
treatment. Furthermore, an accumulation of PRs gene with the acquisition of
resistance in fruit at different maturity stages are defined as proteins which are
induced in plant tissues in response to pathogenic attack or related stimuli.