After 2 h,10 mL of
A. alternata spore suspension (1 105 conidia mL1) were inoculated
into each wound, with the exception of not-infected fruits,
used as healthy controls. After air-drying, fruits were placed in a
plastic chamber to maintain a high relative humidity and incubated
in a climatic chamber at 26 ± 2 C under 14 h light/10 h dark
photoperiod. The experimental design included three replications
per treatment with 10 fruits each, arranged in a randomized complete
block with two factors (extract type and concentration). One
week after inoculation, disease severity was assessed by measuring
the lesion diameter around each infected point. Lesion severity was
expressed as a percentage of that observed in untreated infected
fruits, calculated with the formula: Alternaria rot lesion
% ¼ 100 [Lesion diameter on treated infected fruits/lesion
diameter on the untreated control infected fruits]. Soluble solids
(Brix) and pH of treated tomatoes were also measured, using the
juice extracted from the wounded half of the fruits. The experiment
was carried out thrice.