Integrating plant defense inducing chemical, inorganic salt and hot water treatments for the management of postharvest mango anthracnose

• Preharvest salicylic acid or potassium phosphonate dip decreased mango anthracnose.
• Preharvest treatment and sodium bicarbonate at 51.5 °C kept severity below 5%.
• Fruit marketability of 93.3% was maintained for 12 days with integrated treatments.
• Marketability dropped to 0% in the control fruits.
• Fruit quality was maintained by the integrated treatments.

Preharvest dips of mango fruit in plant defense inducing chemicals (PDIC) integrated with postharvest treatments with inorganic salts and hot water were evaluated for the management of anthracnose on artificially inoculated mango fruit. Either of the PDICs salicylic acid or potassium phosphonate at 1000 mg L−1 combined with a fruit dip for 3 min in 3% aqueous sodium bicarbonate at 51.5 °C significantly reduced disease development as compared to other treatments and the control. This combination kept anthracnose severity (lesion development) below 5% during much of the 12 days experimental period and had the maximum proportion of marketable fruit (93.3%). The mean disease severity on untreated control fruit exceeded 30%, disease incidence reached 100% and marketability dropped to 0%. The treatments also maintained quality of mango; pH, TSS, TA, firmness and color of treated mango fruit significantly (P < 0.001) differed from those of the control. Heating calcium chloride (3%) to 51.5 °C did not significantly improve its effect on severity of mango anthracnose even when combined with preharvest PDICs. The integrated measures involving sodium bicarbonate offer effective options for the management of mango fruit rot due to anthracnose.