Butirra Morettini pears increased resistance to post-harvest fungal infections

The early Butirra Morettini pears that grow outside the foliage are exposed to sunlight and acquire a red blush on their peel compared to those that grow inside the foliage.

Although there is no difference for what concerns the main physical-chemical parameters (including compactness, Brix grades and acidity), Portuguese researchers from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa found out that they develop a different response to biotic stress, in particular to fungal disease.

On the 7th day of shelf-life, the red fruit proved to be more resistant than the green one when inoculated with Penicillium expansum post-harvest. There were significant differences in its anti-oxidant activity and in the phenolic compound content.

Different polyphenols like catechin, quercetin, quinic acid and caffeoylquinic acid associated to induced resistance mechanisms against fungal pathogens were identified.

Researched explained that "results suggest that the accumulation of phenolic compounds could be one of the factors responsible for the increased resistance of red Morettini pears."

Source: Claudia V. Sánchez, Carmo Serrano, M. Conceição Oliveira, Paula Vasilenko, Mário Santos, Rui M. Sousa, 'Differential susceptibility of Morettini pears to blue mold caused by Penicillium expansum', Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, 2016, Vol. 28(6): 374-380. doi: 10.9755/ejfa.2016-04-337