Anthracnose is one of the main post-harvest disease of the banana, caused by different physiological races of Colletotrichum musae. It manifests itself mostly in ripe fruits, threatening its quality. Its appearance is related to the inadequate handling, absence of chemical control in field, and cooling. Application of chemical products is usually done during the processing, but it is important to point out that it can be done while the fruit is still in the field. This work had as an objective to verify the effect post-harvest application of fungicides to control anthracnose in Dwarf Silver bananas, stored at 20ºC and 12ºC. To that end, the influence of the thiabendazole and imazalil fungicides was tested on Colletotrichum musae. In the tests we employed Dwarfed Silver isolates of cultivars FHIA 02 and ST 4208 inoculated in Dwarfed Silver bananas. The evaluations were done every 3 days, by measuring the size of injuries (mm²). The inoculated fruits were discarded in the stage 7 of maturation (yellow with brown tips). The most efficient treatments in disease control were those in which the bananas were treated with the thiabendazole fungicide. The difference in relation to the pathogenicity of the isolates used, demonstrated the specificity of the cultivar.
Musa sp; post-harvest disease; anthracnose; chemical control
