1. Introduction
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen
that can infect over 400 species of plants including a wide
range of vegetables, thus causing great losses in yield (Boland
and Hall 1994). For example, sclerotinia rot, caused
by S. sclerotiorum, is an economically important disease
of carrot and can manifest as both a preharvest epidemic
occurring in the field as well as a postharvest epidemic
occurring during storage (Kora et al. 2003). Sclerotia, that
are very resistant to abiotic stresses, function as a survival
structure in this species and thus pose a significant
challenge for management measures (Zeng et al. 2012).
Currently, the use of synthetic chemical fungicides is the
main method of control for sclerotinia disease. However,
public concern over the potential impact of fungicides on
the environment and human health has created an interest
in exploring new alternatives for disease management
(Bautista-Baños et al. 2006).
As