Abstract

A systematic study was conducted during the year 2000 to assess the extent of loss due to post harvest diseases in mango in Coimbatore at field, wholesale, retail and consumer levels. The magnitude of loss due to post harvest diseases on mango varied at different stages of storage and marketing. Fungal spoilage of mango was higher at retail (40.79 per cent) and consumer level (24.62 per cent) and was minimum at wholesale (3.01 per cent) and the least at field level (1.13 per cent) since the symptoms of the disease of unripe mango manifested only upon ripening. It was observed that the extent of post harvest loss was higher in the months of July (47.90 per cent) and August (51.70 per cent) when compared to other months. Among the post harvest diseases anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and stem end rot caused by Botryodiplodia theobromae caused the major damage.

Keywords: Survey - Mango - Post harvest diseases - Retail level - Consumer level - Wholesale level - Farm level - Anthracnose - Stem end rot.