Poor packaging and improper management causes fruits get bruised and squeezed, allowing
for different types of rots to develop when the necessary favorable growth conditions available.
Tomato fruit is beset with problems of both field and storage rot. Throughout the present
study, two biocontrol bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens UTPf68, and Bacillus subtilis UTB96
the large scale production of which had been successfully carried out in industrial bioreactor
were tested against some isolated tomato post harvest pathogens, in eitherin vitroor in vivo
conditions. AlphaDual culture results indicated that B. subtilis UTB96 inhibited mycelial
growth of Alternaria alternata and of Penicillium spp. for about 68.7 and 81.7 percent
respectively. Also, P. fluorescens UTPf68 was shown to prevent the mycelial growth of A.
alternata and of Penicillium spp. by about 62.2 and 24.3 percent respectively. A substantial
potential of the bacterial strains, in preventing the growth of fungus A. alternata on tomato
fruit was finally observed. The bacterium B. subtilis UTB96 reduced rot development of
tomato fruits caused by A. alternate for about 92.5 percent. Meanwhile, bacterium P.
fluorescens UTPf68 inhibited the mycelial growth of the postharvest pathogen A. alternata on
tomato fruits by about 76.5 percent. The results of this study plus future complementary
researches can help the development and application of large scale biological control intended
to reduce the post harvest incidence of diseases.