SPRAY INDUCED GENE SILENCING IN BOTRYTIS CINEREA APPLICATO A DIVERSI SISTEMI DI COLTIVAZIONE DELLA FRAGOLA: VALUTAZIONE DELLA SEVERITÀ DELLA MALATTIA, PARAMETRI PRODUTTIVI E QUALITÀ NUTRIZIONALE DEI FRUTTI

With the ever-increasing demand for nutritious food, advanced technologies emerge rapidly to enhance sustainable plant production and minimize food waste. Boosting the intrinsic plant defense of strawberry to counteract with Botrytis cinerea, the most prevalent mold in this Fragaria-genus plant is the most applied technique. Apart from Host-Induced Gene Silencing (HIGS), the external-triggered factor is an alternative method to activate and expand the internal resistance of strawberries and overcome the GMO-related misconceptions of the customers. The compatibility between the host and carrier bacteria is another concern of scientists in studying GMO plants. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the influence of exogenously applied ds-RNA formulations on productive parameters, Botrytis-resistant feature of strawberry, and nutritional values, performed on two trials, on two strawberry cultivation systems, testing different dsRNA formulations, in comparison with their controls (not treated and standard pesticide). The obtained outcomes revealed that the dsRNA in both A and B formulations positively affected Botrytis infection with higher than 20% of the disease control value in greenhouse conditions but ineffectively in combating Botrytis post-harvest, in which the best performance was observed in treatment no.6 following by no.5. Regarding the C regimes, notably dsRNA-increased content treatments (5 and 6) offered much more significant control issues, 35 and 40% respectively. Regime 7, the same formulation of 5 and 6 but at the highest concentration, declined the effect. This group had a positive effect on protecting fruit from damage caused by grey mold at 3dph. In both environmental conditions, fungicide treatments were still the best choice; however, in the open field, the combination Teldor-Signum-Switch was preferable. After seven days of harvesting, all products were almost spoiled in high humidity surroundings, except for positive treatments with acceptable damage. In both environment trials of strawberry, different treatments did not influence the sensorial quality however the time of harvesting highly affected these elements. Higher environmental temperature, at the end of the harvesting season, in the open field probably altered sugar content and acidity.