TY - JOUR N2 - The shipment of cut flowers from Colombia and Ecuador to the United States, the biggest importer of this product in the world, has doubled in the last 20 years. One of the main constraints in cut roses production is the gray mold disease caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, which can destroy the flowers, in the crop, during storage and/or shipping. Since the resistance of the fungus to conventional fungicides has been increasing, as well as the health effects in rose growers, alternative approaches for controlling the disease are needed. The effect of UV-C light on the gray mold development in cut roses was studied. Irradiation with 2,160; 1,080 and 540 J ⋅ m–2 UV-C, every 24 h for 5 days in a humid chamber, did not harm the roses. Instead, as seen by image analysis, a highly significant reduction of the area of the lesions by the disease and of the fungus germination was obtained at 1,080 J ⋅ m–2. The addition of a 4-h dark period to the irradiation did not improve the effect of UV-C on the disease. The results of this work potentiate the use of UV-C light in the agro-industry as a low-cost and non-invasive alternative method to control diseases. They also reflect the application of optical approaches as image analysis in the evaluation of important agricultural features. L1 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/117054/PDF/OA_02_JPPR_60_4_769_Vega.pdf L2 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/117054 PY - 2020 IS - No 4 EP - 361 DO - 10.24425/jppr.2020.133957 KW - gray mold KW - pest control KW - postharvest KW - roses KW - UV-C radiation A1 - Vega, Katherine A1 - Ochoa, Samuel A1 - Patiño, Luis F. A1 - Herrera-Ramírez, Jorge A. A1 - Gómez, Jorge A. A1 - Quijano, Jairo C. PB - Committee of Plant Protection PAS PB - Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute VL - vol. 60 DA - 2020.10.23 T1 - UV-C radiation for control of gray mold disease in postharvest cut roses SP - 351 UR - http://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/117054 T2 - Journal of Plant Protection Research ER -