Blue mold decay is the one of most important postharvest disease of apples caused by the fungus, Penicillium expansum. This study aimed to investigate the biocontrol efficacy of the yeast, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, on postharvest blue mold decay of apples and the relative defense mechanisms. The results indicated that W. anomalus could significantly reduce the blue mold decay of apples, and the maximum inhibition was obtained when the concentration of W. anomalus was 1 × 10⁸ cells ml⁻¹. Furthermore, W. anomalus significantly reduced the fruit decay under ambient conditions, without generating any change in fruit quality. In vitro experiments showed that W. anomalus greatly inhibited the spore germination and germ tube elongation of P. expansum. Besides, its ease of adaptation, stable growth and potential colonization of in apple wounds or surfaces indicated that W. anomalus could compete with P. expansum for nutrients and space, leading to considerable inhibition blue mold decay. W. anomalus significantly induced the activities of polyphenol oxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in apples. Moreover, W. anomalus increased the contents of flavonoid and total phenols. All these results suggested that W. anomalus has potential biocontrol efficacy to control the postharvest blue mold decay of apples

蓝霉菌腐烂是由真菌青霉菌引起的苹果最重要的收获后病害之一。这项研究旨在研究酵母Wickerhamomyces anomalus对苹果采后蓝霉菌腐烂的生物防治功效及其相关防御机制。结果表明，W。anomalus可以显着降低苹果的蓝色霉菌腐烂，当W. anomalus的浓度为1×10 ⁸细胞ml ^-1时，可获得最大的抑制作用。此外，W。anomalus在环境条件下可显着减少果实腐烂，而不会导致果实品质发生任何变化。体外实验表明，W. anomalus极大地抑制了P. expansum的孢子萌发和胚芽管伸长。此外，它易于适应，稳定增长，在苹果伤口或表面的潜在定植表明W. anomalus能与之抗衡扩展青霉养分和空间，从而导致相当大的抑制蓝色防霉防蛀。W. anomalus显着诱导了苹果中多酚氧化酶（PPO），过氧化物酶（POD），过氧化氢酶（CAT），苯丙氨酸氨裂合酶（PAL）和抗坏血酸过氧化物酶（APX）的活性。此外，异常W.增加了类黄酮和总酚的含量。所有这些结果表明，W。anomalus 具有潜在的生物防治功效，可控制苹果收获后的蓝霉变质