A "hot bath" can reduce the decay of apple fungi.

Original title: "Hot bath" can reduce apple fungus decay
Recently, the Graz Institute of Environmental
Biology
Technology in Austria, in collaboration with the Austrian Industrial Biotechnology Center, found an ecological way to improve the storage of
apples
, opening a new way for
vegetables
fruits
storing
without
chemical
treatment

researchers have experimented to find a way to combine hot water treatment with biological agents. They briefly soaked the apple in a hot bath, a "hot heat" that stimulates the apple's natural defenses and effectively reduces the
of the
's fungus. Although the principle of hot water treatment has not been fully clarified, it has been proved to be effective in inhibiting the growth of many fungi.
Gabriel Berger, director of the Graz Institute for Environmental Biotechnology, studied how hot water treatment affects Apple's microbiome. Experiments have shown that, through hot water treatment, apples' natural microbiome remains unchanged, while harmful fungi are almost completely suppressed. Hot water treatment releases certain plant-derived defensive metabolites that kill pathogens without affecting the natural microbiome associated with apples.
, who was involved in the study, said: "We infected organic apples with two important variants and then treated them with hot water and the biological control agents we designed. Using this combination, we were able to completely kill about 60% of the pathogens attached to the apples after picking and minimize the possibility of infection. Comparing
, the combination of hot water and biologics was 20% more effective against apple decay than using hot water treatment alone. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, showed that bio-control agents have an additional protective effect on the prevention of mold.
.