Monitoring and managing post-harvest decay of greenhouse tomatoes

加拿大的温室蔬菜生产是一个每年销售额超过10亿美元的产业。番茄（Solanum lycopersicum L.）是加拿大和美国温室中种植的主要蔬菜作物。2010年，不列颠哥伦比亚省在116公顷的温室种植空间中生产了6200万公斤西红柿，价值1.41亿美元。水果收获后变质可导致5%至20%的损失，这对生产者来说仍然是一个持续的挑战。在过去的一年里，行业合作者报告了由于收获后腐烂造成的损失增加。这些损失在夏季表现为明显腐烂的果实；这种明显增加的原因尚不清楚。这项工作的目的是研究致病微生物在导致果实采收后腐烂中的作用，并了解可能使果实易受感染的因素。与行业合作伙伴合作，其他研究目标将包括：确定收获后储存温度对腐烂发展的影响；通过监测水果、残留在地面上的修剪过的叶片碎片和空气中微生物的存在，确定微生物污染的来源；监测果实表面和温室环境中微生物群落随时间可能发生的变化；最后，确定水果表面的竞争微生物，特别是枯草芽孢杆菌，是否能抑制水果腐烂。该项目的结果应确定导致不列颠哥伦比亚省番茄果实采后腐烂的关键因素。结果应适用于目前的收获后处理过程，并应确定未来的实施战略，以减少从工作中发现的问题/问题。解决番茄收获后的腐烂问题将使行业合作伙伴以及加拿大种植的宝贵商品的消费者受益。这所大学将有机会从应用的角度探索一个科学上有趣的问题，这应该会产生基本的新发现，最终可以发表。将为两名本科生提供微生物学培训。

Greenhouse vegetable production in Canada is an industry that generates over a billion dollars in sales per year. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the leading vegetable crop grown in greenhouses in Canada and the United States. British Columbia produced 62 million kg of tomatoes in 116 ha of greenhouse growing space in 2010, valued at $141 million. Post-harvest deterioration of fruit can lead to losses ranging from between 5 % to 20 %, and remains a continual challenge for producers. Over the past year, increased losses due to post-harvest decay have been reported by the industry collaborator. These losses appear during the summer months as visibly decayed fruit; the reasons for this apparent increase are not known. The objectives of the proposed work are to investigate the role of pathogenic microbes in causing post-harvest decay, and to understand the factors that can predispose fruit to infection. Working with an industry collaborator, additional research objectives will include: establishing the effect of post-harvest storage temperatures on development of decay; determining the source of microbial contamination, by monitoring the presence of microbes on fruit, pruned leaf debris left on the ground, and air; to monitor the possible changes in microbial communities on the fruit surface and in the greenhouse environment over time; and finally, to determine if competing microbes, in particular Bacillus subtilis, on the fruit surface could inhibit fruit decay. The results from this project should identify the key factors leading to post-harvest decay of tomato fruits in British Columbia. The results should be applicable to the post-harvest handling process currently in place and should identify future strategies for implementation to reduce problems/issues indentified from the work. Solving the tomato post-harvest decay problem will benefit the industry partner, as well as consumers of a valuable Canadian-grown commodity. The university will be provided with an opportunity to explore a scientifically interesting problem from an applied perspective which should yield basic novel findings that could eventually be published. Training will be provided in microbiology to two undergraduate students.