Reduction of Banana anthracnose following hot-water treatment of the green fruit

Abstract

The tolerance of banana fruit to hot-water dipping was established. Complete control of artificially induced latent infections of Colletotrichum musae was achieved in the laboratory by dipping green fruit in hot water at 55°C for 2 min before ripening. This treatment also effectively destroyed conidia of the fungus. In larger semi-commercial scale experiments using naturally infected fruit, significant but not complete control of anthracnose and crown rot was obtained. Some delay in ripening was caused by the bot-water treatment, but this was variable. The rate of pulp ripening was not affected by the treatment.