Background
Sweet potatoes are susceptible to a number of diseases during the postharvest storage period and during shipping. The most common are Rhizopus soft rot (Rhizopus stolonifer), bacterial soft rot (Erwinia chrysanthemii), Fusarium root rot (Fusarium solani), Fusarium surface rot (Fusarium oxysporum), and black rot (Ceratocystis fimbriata).
R. stolonifer is a problematic pathogen as it infects fresh wounds occurring during packing and shipping. There is limited data on the exact losses attributed to Rhizopus soft rot. A study conducted in the New York City retail market found that the majority of culls due to disease were caused by Rhizopus soft rot (approximately 2% decay in survey). Anecdotal reports suggest that Rhizopus soft rot is unpredictably sporadic and generally results in heavy losses to entire shipments when it does occur.
R. stolonifer has a wide host range and can affect over 300 plant species including fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. R. stolonifer (Ehrenb. ex Fr.) (syn R. nigricans) was first described in 1818 and first recognized as a pathogen on sweetpotato in 1890.
Read more about this topic: Rhizopus Soft Rot
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