Physical postharvest treatments in the control of stem‐end rot of mango

Abstract

Botryosphaeria dothidea is the major pathogen of mango in Brazil, causing stem‐end rot, which causes significant losses during transportation and storage. The current strategy to control this particular disease using synthetic fungicides has been ineffective, leaving residues in the fruit. The objective of the research was to study the effect of physical treatments, with hot water rinse brushing (HWRB) and ultraviolet C irradiation (UV‐C), individually and in combination, to control stem‐end rot of mango. Physicochemical parameters, respiration and resistance induction of the fruit were also analysed. The in vitro trials demonstrated that B. dothidea is a thermoresistant fungus. The individual treatments with HWRB at 65°C for 15 s and 2.5 kJ/m2 of UV‐C presented the best results, showing less symptoms of the disease during 18 days of storage. The combination of HWRB with UV‐C did not improve the control of the disease when compared to the treatments applied individually. The physicochemical parameters and the consumer acceptance evaluation showed that both physical treatments preserved the appearance of the fruit and delayed the ripening–senescence process. The induction of defence‐related enzymes revealed that induced resistance was an important mechanism involved in the control of stem‐end rot of mango.

Stem-end rot in major tropical and sub-tropical fruit species

“…Botryodiplodia theobromae), Phomopsis mangiferae, Pestalotiopsis mangiferae (Johnson et al, 1992) and Cytosphaera mangiferae (Muller and Burt, 1989;Johnson et al, 1991a;Johnson, 1992;Ko et al, 2009;Takushi et al, 2017;Hong et al, 2012;Karunanayake et al, 2014) and other fungi. Botryosphaeria dothidea is the major pathogen causing stem-end rot of mango in Brazil, which brings about significant losses during transportation and storage (Terao et al, 2018). Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Alternaria alternata, Fusicoccum aesculi, Nattrassia mangiferae, Botryosphaeria spp.…”

Hot Water Rinsing and Brushing of Fresh Produce as an Alternative to Chemical Treatment after Harvest—The Story behind the Technology

“…Treating the fruits with HWRB at 65 • C for 15 s or 2.5 kJ/m 2 of UV-C alone provided the best results, with fewer symptoms of the disease appearing during 18 days of storage. The combination of HWRB with UV-C did not improve the control of the disease, as compared to the individually applied treatments [28].…”

“…In addition, ripening inhibition was also observed indirectly in several types of HWRB-treated fruit, as the inhibition of color development and the inhibition of polygalacturonase and exo-and endo-cellulase activities [11,13,30,36]. HWRB increased the phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity in mango fruit, which indirectly induced the defense mechanism in the fruit and reinforced the resistance response of the fruit to the HWRB [28].…”

Detection and discrimination of Carica papaya fungi through the analysis of volatile metabolites by gas chromatography and analysis of variance‐principal component analysis

“…The detection of the fungi causing postharvest diseases is a difficult task because most of them are quiescent in fruit, which is apparently healthy at harvest time. The symptoms appear gradually during the storage and transport period to local markets or for export, when fruit ripening process starts, bringing great apprehension and enormous problems to wholesalers, retailers, and especially to fruit exporters 8 …”

“…The symptoms appear gradually during the storage and transport period to local markets or for export, when fruit ripening process starts, bringing great apprehension and enormous problems to wholesalers, retailers, and especially to fruit exporters. 8 In general, conventional identification is done after symptoms manifestation. Symptomatic fruit has to be delivered to a phytopathological laboratory, where the pathogen isolation followed by the pathogenicity test would be performed.…”