Evaluation of fast volatile analysis for detection of Botrytis cinerea infections in strawberry

Grey mold (Botrytis cinerea) is one of the major phytopathogens causing serious losses during strawberry postharvest and storage. B. cinerea-host interaction affect emissions of volatile compounds during infection resulting in a characteristic earthy, mushroom odor. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate two analytical techniques based on fast volatile analysis on their performance for monitoring evolution and early detection of B. cinerea infections in strawberry. In a first experiment headspace multi-capillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (HS MCC-IMS) has been successfully used to evaluate development of strawberry aroma during shelflife. In a second experiment the same technique has been used to detect the degree of B. cinerea infection through changes in the volatile profile. Additionally, these samples were analyzed with headspace solid-phase-microextraction fast GC-MS (HS SPME fast GC-MS). Both HS MCC-IMS and HS SPME fast GC-MS could determine the changes in volatile composition as a function of the degree of B. cinerea infection as determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and could be used to follow the evolution of infection. According to the ELISA data, some fruit were infected even without any symptoms and volatiles produced by the fungus may be overshadowed by the fruit volatiles. Therefore, both analytical techniques could not be used for early detection of B. cinerea infections. After identification of the volatile compounds and multivariate data analysis, potential biomarkers specific for B. cinerea were highlighted, being 3-methylbutanal, cis-4-decenal, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, 1-octen-3-one and 1-octen-3-ol.