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Abstract

Background and Objectives Excessive use of chemical antifungal agents during the food production becomes a serious issue threatening our health especially in fresh fruits, which passes the applied chemicals into the human body quickly. The research evaluated the effect of different natural oils on flame seedless grapes Vitis vinifera L. as delicate fruits affected highly with fungal infection or temperature changes during different storage periods and marketing temperatures by testing the fruits quality and the antifungal properties of oils against post-harvest fungi. Materials and Methods Thirteen years old flames seedless growing on sandy soil were sprayed with clove, black seed and garlic oil during two seasons 2016 and 2017. After harvest, the clusters were sorted in room or cold temperature for different storage periods. Clusters were analyzed for its physical, chemical and microbial prosperities. Results Spraying natural oils especially garlic oil significantly improved the berries quality in terms of increasing berry weight, length, width, TSS and TSSTA compared to unsprayed ones. They also reduced the post-harvest fungal counts up to 75 decreasing in garlic oil treated samples. Conclusion Using natural oils protected the fruits from post-harvest fungi and also generated protective coating layer decreased water loss during storage periods which increased the fruits quality and lifetime.