Diagnosis and Management of Pre and Post-harvest Diseases of Citrus fruit

Abstract

Citrus is an important fruit crop grown commercially in more than 135 countries in different agro-climatic conditions for its diversified use and increasing demand world over with about 102.64 million tonnes total world production and probably stands first largest among the fruit crop. The larger part of revenue by citrus producing countries is realised through fresh fruit trade followed by its processed products and by products. The success of fresh citrus fruit export is mainly dependant on the quality of produce, phytosanitary conditions set by the importing country and WTO and the post-harvest management to minimise the decay till the consignment reaches to its destination. The citrus fruit is attacked by a number of pathogens from bloom to harvesting stage and subsequently by post-harvest pathogens that affect the production of the crop and considerably deteriorate the fruit quality. The pre-harvest pathogens like Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, C. acutatum, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Alternaria citri, Phomopsis citri etc. attack the fruit from fruit set till harvest and cause considerable damage to its production and quality. The incipient infection of pre-harvest pathogens subsequently also manifest in the form of post-harvest diseases besides the attack of other post-harvest wound pathogens viz. Penicillium digitatum, P. italicum, Geotrichum candidum etc. during post-harvest handling, transport, storage and marketing. The viable technologies have been developed to reduce these losses through pre-harvest management of diseases, improved handling, transport, storage, packing and marketing. The post-harvest treatments with fungicides, biocontrol agents, and wax on mechanical citrus packing line and certain physical therapies have been suggested to further minimise the post harvest decay and to extend the shelf life of fruits for successful trade of citrus in domestic and distant export market. The present scenario and future trade requirements have been discussed here.