Post-harvest control of brown rot and Rhizopus rot in peaches with benomyl and dichloran

Abstract

Three varieties of peach fruit were treated after harvest with benomyl, thiabendazole, methyl thiophanate, and benomyl plus dichloran. Brown rot and Rhizopus rot inoculum were applied to some fruit before fungicide treatment. A mixture of benomyl (800 mg l-1) and dichloran (400 mg l-1) gave almost complete control of brown rot. This treatment reduced the incidence of brown rot to one infected fruit per five hundred. Treatment with benomyl alone reduced the incidence of brown rot to less than ten infected fruit per hundred, except when moisture condensed in the cartons. The other fungicidal treatments were less effective in controlling brown rot. Addition of dichloran (400 mg l-1) to benomyl (800 mg l-1) reduced the incidence of Rhizopus rot to less than ten infected fruit per hundred. Benomyl, thiabendazole and methyl thiophanate treatments alone did not control Rhizopus rot.