Improved management of mango fruit though orchard and packinghouse treatments to reduce lenticel discoloration and prevent decay

• Orchard water washing of mango fruit reduced lenticel discoloration.
• Hot water brushing enhanced lenticel discoloration.
• Hot water sprays over revolving rollers reduced lenticel discoloration.
• Orchard washing plus hot water sprays and acidic prochloraz preserved quality the best.

Mango fruit are exposed to complex postharvest handling management, intended to improve postharvest quality retention during export shipment. Susceptibility to lenticel discoloration and to Alternaria side rots and Phomopsis stem-end rot under current handling conditions led us to re-evaluate and modify the chain of postharvest treatments, from the orchard to the packinghouse. The previously developed hot-water brushing (HWB) treatment was found effective in reducing incidence of Alternaria and stem-end rots, but it significantly induced development of red lenticels. Two factors were key to improving fruit quality, by simultaneously reducing lenticel discoloration and decay development: (a) postharvest water and/or NaOH washes in the orchard, and (b) hot-water spray (HWS) applied over rollers without brushes in the packinghouse. The present results indicate that optimal management involves combinations of water washes in the orchard with packinghouse HWS treatment; this significantly reduced the severity of lenticel discoloration by 50–60%, and the incidence and extent of postharvest side rots caused by Alternaria by 60% or more. These results indicate that appropriate handling of fruit can appreciably improve their quality during prolonged storage and shipment.