Hort. Sci. (Prague), X:X | DOI: 10.17221/100/2025-HORTSCI

Effect of pre-harvest chemical treatments on post-harvest disease control and quality enhancement in banana fruitsOriginal Paper

Murugan Loganathan ORCID...¹, Raman Thangavelu¹, Kalimuthu Muthubharathi¹, Subramanian Bagavathi¹, Karur Nallappagounder Shiva¹, Govindasamy Prabhu¹, Banerjee Kaushik², Hingmire Sandip², Arumugam Mohanasundram¹, Ramasamy Selvarajan¹

¹ ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, India

² National Referral Laboratory, ICAR-National Research Centre for Grapes, P.O. Manjari Farm, Pune, India

Bananas, as climacteric fruits, are highly prone to rapid deterioration caused by fungal pathogens, resulting in considerable post-harvest losses. These pathogens typically infect the fruit during field growth, resulting in latent infections that develop into disease after harvest. Generally, several rounds of fungicides such as Carbendazim, Mancozeb + Carbendazim, Trifloxystrobin + Tebuconazole, and Propiconazole are applied to manage fungal diseases like Fusarium wilt and leaf spot in the field. This study assessed the effectiveness of these chemicals on post-harvest diseases, fruit quality and residual toxicity. All four fungicides recorded 80–100% control against major pathogens responsible for anthracnose (Colletotrichum musae) and crown rot (Lasiodiplodia theobromae and C. musae), at concentrations of 0.05–0.2%. Field application of the chemicals completely controlled anthracnose and significantly reduced crown rot severity. The treatments also improved fruit size (32.10–35.62 mm), yield (18.83–20.06 kg/plant), firmness (13.66–15.67 N), and shelf life (up to 8.25 days at room temperature and 21–23 days at 13.5 ± 0.2 °C) than 28.24 mm,13.5 kg/plant, 11.37 N and (4.5 days and 14 days) in control, respectively. No pesticide residues were detected in the fruit or core stem, ensuring consumer safety.

Keywords: bananas; anthracnose; crown rot; fungicides; insecticides; residue; shelf life

Received: September 3, 2025; Revised: December 21, 2025; Accepted: January 11, 2026; Prepublished online: January 11, 2026