The fungal flora of soft fruits in relation to storage and spoilage

The fungal population of freshly harvested strawberries, raspberries and blackberries was studied throughout the fruiting seasons and the relative importance of fungi responsible for spoilage of stored fruit from different harvest dates was assessed. Botrytis cinerea, Cladosporium spp., Penicillium spp., Aureobasidium pullulans and Mucor spp. were consistently present on all three fruits while Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Didymella applanata were prevalent on raspberries only and Epicoccum purpurascens and Alternaria spp. on blackberries only. Botrytis cinerea and Mucor mucedo were the predominant spoilage organisms of all three fruits, although the relative importance of the two fungi changed as the season progressed, especially for strawberries. Rhizopus stolonifer, Cladosporium spp., Penicillium spp. and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides were only of minor importance as spoilage organisms.