Antifungal Activities and Mode of Action of , , and Essential Oil Vapors against and Their Potential Application to Control Postharvest Strawberry Gray Mold.

Gray mold caused by is one of the most destructive postharvest decay of strawberry fruit. The present study aims to identify essential oils with antifungal activity against and the underlying mechanisms and their potential application in controlling postharvest decay. In the screening test, essential oils from (), (), and () exhibited maximum inhibition of mycelial growth. The three essential oils altered the hyphal morphology and ultrastructure and resulted in many blebs around the hyphae. The essential oils damaged the plasma membrane of cells and resulted in the leakage of intercellular nucleic acids, proteins and soluble sugars. The exposure of strawberries to the vapors of these three essential oils in commercial package reduced gray mold, with and exhibiting strong efficiency and disease index reduction by 53.85% and 57.69%, respectively. also inhibited postharvest decay and maintained fruit quality, preventing weight loss and soluble solid degradation. The study proposes using plant essential oils as an alternative to chemical fungicides in controlling the gray mold of strawberries.