Postharvest of ‘Fuerte’ and ‘Hass’ avocados: physical and chemical characteristics, damages and control of diseases

Abstract

Postharvest disease is considered an important cause of avocado depreciation during its commercialization. This work aimed to evaluate the postharvest damages and the physical chemical characteristics of avocados ‘Fuerte’ and ‘Hass’, processed at the packinghouse, and to evaluate the effect of products for postharvest disease control. The characteristics skin color, firmness, titratable acidity and soluble solids content and the incidence of the postharvest damages were evaluated periodically in avocados sampled in three different stages in a packinghouse (arrival, pallet and processed fruits after storage for 30 days at 5ºC). For diseases control, ‘Hass’ avocado were treated by immersion with the following products: azoxystrobin, benzalkonium chloride, chlorine dioxide, Ecolife^®, sodium hypochlorite, imazalil, prochloraz and thiabendazole. In general, the highest physical chemical changes were observed in fruits collected at their arrival to the packinghouse and in processed fruits after stored for 30 days at 15 days of storage at 25°C. The rots incidence was 56,7% in ‘Fuerte’ and 75,7% in ‘Hass’. Lower incidence of rots was observed in fruits sampled at the pallet and a higher incidence in the processed fruits, after refrigerated storage. Anthracnose was the most important disease in both cultivars. The mechanical injuries increased with the processing stages; however, they did not influence the incidence of the rots. Procloraz and imazalil were the most efficient fungicides in reducing the incidence of rots.