**1. Introduction**

Postharvest fruit losses usually develop along the food supply chain by fungal rots during handling, storage, transportation, processing and marketing, thus resulting in the decline of quantity, quality and shelf life of perishable fruits. Fungal postharvest rots pose a serious threat limiting the market value of peaches, resulting in serious economic losses worldwide [1]. Furthermore, postharvest fungal rots are often the major concern influencing consumer requirements. Accordingly, postharvest deteriorations primarily progress from damages that arise most prominently before, during and after harvesting. Once spores of fungi are inoculated in fruit from these wounds, they result in rapid fruit deterioration. Germinating conidia of fungi may enter intact fruit cuticle and establish internally in the host [2]. These infections completely develop into active decay as fruit is fully matured and become susceptible.

The high metabolic activity of peaches results in ethylene production and is mainly subjected to rapid quality decrease. This causes several negative effects *viz*. increased fungal rots susceptibility and fruit physiological disorders consequently resulting in the growth potential of microbes on fruit surface [3]. Various postharvest fungal rots of the genera; *Fusarium, Penicillium, Alternaria, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Trichothecium, Aspergillus* and Stigmina deteriorate quality of the stone fruits [4, 5]. To reduce conservational pollution owing to fungicides their excessive use against phytopathogenic rots is reduced in the previous years. Moreover, biological control has emerged as an applicable strategy to combat major fungal postharvest deterioration of perishable fruits [6, 7].
