Incidence of Penicilllium Species on Grape and Raisin in East-, West Azarbaijan and Gazvin Provinces

Members of Penicillium species contaminate agricultural products during both pre-harvest and post-harvest conditions, which result in crop yield reduction and quality. There is a huge paucity of knowledge on the prevalence of fungal species occurring on grape and raisin in Iran. The present study was aimed to characterize Penicillium species occurring on grapes and raisins in vineyards of East- and West Azarbaijan and Gazvin provinces. During 2011-2013 growing seasons, a total of 63 Penicillium isolates were recovered from berry and raisin samples of the surveyed provinces. The average of total contamination was 23% and the average of contamination in raisins and grapes samples were 1% and 33%, respectively. Determination of morphological properties of Penicillium isolates according to standard protocols were placed Penicillium species on grapes and raisins in studied areas in nine species of Penicillium and Talaromyces. The identity of species was confirmed using Beta-tubulun gene sequence data. The results of this study showed that Penicillium expansum with a frequency of 35% (22 isolates) was the most frequently occurring species Identification of Penicillium species associated with grape and raisin in vineyards of northwest regions of Iran will provide the possibility of adopting pollution control strategies.