Exploring the frontier of fruit diseases management: Advances in nano-based and biocontrol strategies and underlying action mechanism

Management of fruit diseases is a leading challenge at the cutting-edge innovations in agriculture having a direct impact on safety, sustainability and quality of food. The present review hunts through the innovative domains of nano-based and biocontrol and approaches for the disease management of fruits, exploring the mechanism of actions as well as the plausible impacts on agriculture. Various types of nano-materials, along with their mode of action, are analyzed comprehensively, highlighting their antimicrobial potential, genetic and physical disruption capacities, command over production of ethylene and maturity of harvest, intervention with cellular pathways, and part it plays in modulating the activities of enzymes and gaseous interchange. The biocontrol strategy concentrates on using naturally occurring agents to manage pathogenic organisms and to evaluate the mode of action of these bio-agents. It also focuses on parameters that influence the efficiency of these bio-agents as well as their effect on the quality of the fruits. The present in-depth review focuses on providing a comprehensive picture of both these novel strategies, emphasizing their potential as a sustainable substitute for conventional strategies of control, their efficiency, and their significance in disease management of fruits. Simultaneously, it provides important insight into the subsequent agricultural strategies in the future and the materialization of sustainable, eco-friendly, and efficient means of minimizing losses and maintenance of the quality of fruits. (c) 2024 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.