Authors Mendy, T., Misran, A., Mahmud, T. and Ismail, S.
Postharvest fruit disease in papaya (Carica papaya L.) caused by fungus is one of the major problems in the fruit industry, to determine the major postharvest fungal pathogen isolated from papaya fruit and to investigate the antifungal effects of Aloe vera on those pathogens, the fungi were isolated and identified through molecular identification as Fusarium sp., Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus niger, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides which are believed to responsible for postharvest decay in papaya fruits, Fruit such as papaya contain an excellent source of sugars; glucose, fructose, and sucrose which comprise a total of up to 13% of the fresh fruit weight, Papaya have high levels of sugars, making them desirable for fungal growth. Fungi can take hold of papaya, either during the pre-harvest or postharvest stage. Anthracnose of papaya caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was considered to be the most important postharvest disease, the disease symptom is in the form of brown to black depress spots on the papaya, using morphological identification demonstrated that the highest disease incidence of 90% to 98% and severity of 25% to 38% was recorded for anthracnose followed by stem-end-rot in papaya fruit in Selangor, Malaysia. The fungi identified were Botryodiplodia theobromae, Colletotrichum capsici, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium sp., Phomopsis sp., Rhizopus stolonifer and Stemphylium species, Gel extracted from Aloe vera stems has been reported to inhibit the growth of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The wide range of constituents of the species is responsible for the antimicrobial potential to combat against microorganisms, anthraquinones, through its antimicrobial activity, inhibits the solute transport in membranes of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli ,there are also reports on the antifungal potential of Aloe vera against several fungi including Colletotrichum species. This medicine plant is also reported to be able to show antibacterial activity against food-born pathogenic microorganisms which included Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli and Klebsialla pneumonia . The effectiveness of Aloe vera as an antifungal fruit coating against most fungal pathogens has been demonstrated in stone fruits, avocados, and strawberries. Aloe vera gel has antimicrobial activities which provide a defensive barrier against microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables.
