Effect of chitin on the antagonistic activity of Rhodotorula glutinis against Botrytis cinerea in strawberries and the possible mechanisms involved

The influence of chitin on the efficacy of Rhodotorula glutinis in controlling postharvest grey mould of strawberries and the possible mechanisms involved were investigated. The results showed that the antagonistic activity of R. glutinis harvested either from the culture media of NYDB amended with chitin at 0.5% or from the culture media in which chitin was the sole carbon source (NYCB) was improved greatly compared with that without chitin. The application of R. glutinis cultivated in the culture media of the chitin-supplement (0.5%) induced higher β-1,3-glucanase activity and reduced more MDA content of strawberries compared with that R. glutinis cultivated in the NYDB. Moreover, the control efficacy of the cell-free filtrate of the chitin-supplement culture media (0.5%) and NYCB were higher than that of cell-free culture filtrates of NYDB in 2 days incubation, with the associated high level of chitinase activity.