<div>Background: Fusarium fruit rot symptoms appear at all stages of banana fruit once infection initiates and progress from the stylar end as dark brown to black small spots which eventually turns black rotten areas leading to rotten pulp which renders the fruit unmarketable. Very meagre research work has been done on Fusarium fruit rot disease of banana in India and hence the present investigation on Fusarium fruit rot diseases of banana was undertaken south Gujarat condition.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: During the period 2018-2019 tested different inoculation methods were tested on the development of banana Fusarium fruit rot disease viz., stylar end pricking, rubbing, pricking at epicarp and without injury on banana fruit. Disease severity and incidence were recorded at 4th and 8th day after inoculation. In order to find out the most vulnerable stage of fruit for initiation of infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot disease, three stages of fruits were selected i.e., unripe, semi-ripe and ripe. 
 
Result:&nbsp; Among, the different methods with fruit injury, stylar end pricking method was found best for the infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot (34.14%) after 8th days of inoculation followed by pricking at epicarp (27.79%). Further it was observed that injury of fruit surface is essential for infection and development of Fusarium fruit rot in banana. However, the severity of Fusarium fruit rot revealed that the highest severity was recorded in ripe fruits (30.21%) as compared to semi ripe (30.08%) and unripe (14.70%) fruits.</div>

<div>Impact of Inoculation Methods and Fruit Maturity on Development of Fusarium Fruit Rot (Fusarium musae) Disease in Banana</div>

<div>Background: Fruit rot is an age old destructive disease of chilli caused by complex fungal pathogens resulting in severe yield losses both at pre and post-harvest stages. Hence, this study aims to investigate the occurrence of fruit rot disease in Tamil Nadu and to identify the fungal pathogens associated with fruit rot symptoms based on morpho-molecular characters.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Roving survey was conducted in various districts of Tamil Nadu to determine the prevalence of fruit rot disease and to ascertain its causative agents. The pathogens were identified based on the conidial morphology, cultural characteristics and further confirmed by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ITS 1 and ITS 4 primers.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Maximum disease severity was documented in Dharmapuri followed by Namakkal and lowest in Nagapattinam district. Ten isolates representing two genera viz., Colletotrichum and Fusarium were recovered from fruit rot infected chilli fruits and validated by pathogenicity test. Based on the morpho-cultural characters, 2 isolates were identified as Fusarium sp., with oval/ellipsoidal microconidia and straight/curved macroconidia, 6 isolates as Colletotrichum scovillei with fusiform conidia and 2 isolates as Colletotrichum truncatum with falcate conidia. The virulent isolates were further confirmed as C. scovillei based on PCR amplification of ITS region of genomic DNA.</div>

Understanding the Etiology of Chilli Fruit Rot Disease in Tamil Nadu

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: The post-harvest tomato fruit rot disease is common threat to the tomato fruit, causing huge economic loss as revealed by (GOP, 2018). The present study was conducted for isolation and identification of causative agent of tomato fruit rot in order to formulate the proper management stretegies.&nbsp; Methods: Study was conducted in three phases. Phase one included collection of tomato fruit samples from vicinity of Tandojam. In phase two pathogens were isolated from the samples at laboratory, while in the phase three pathogens were identified using standard procedures.&nbsp; Result: The experimental results indicated Alternaria solani as the main cause of post-harvest tomato fruit rot. The symptoms observed were presence of brown to black rot lesions on tomato fruits with distinct rings ranging from small pin-heads to whole surface of fruit. A total of six different fungi viz., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Alternaria solani, Geotrichum candidum, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizopus stolonifer were found to be associated with post harvest tomato rot. Significantly higher infection was recorded for A. solani (53.667%) followed by A. niger (16.333%) and G. candidum (13.00%). The lowest infection percentage was observed for F. oxysporum (2.333%), followed by A. alternata (4.00%) and R. stolonifer (9.00%). A. solani produced aerial mycelium with yellowish to reddish diffusible pigments. A. niger cultures were typically black and colonies were initially whitish to yellow and later became brown to black in colour. G. candidum produced white and nonaerial colonies. F. oxysporum produced circular, aerial mycelium initially white, later changed to light pink. R. stolonifer produced whitish to grey fuzzy colonies.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Isolation and Identification of the Fungi Causing Tomato Fruit Rot Disease in the Vicinity of Tandojam, Sindh</div>

<div>Background: Pomegranate is an important favourite fruit of tropical, subtropical and arid regions. In India, it is grown in almost all the states but a commercial orchard exists in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Some pathogens only attack the fruit from the inside, while the external surface of the fruit remains asymptomatic. Diseased fruit display poor shelf life and flavour quality attributes. Changes include losses in sugars, acids, characteristic aroma and development of off flavours. Therefore, identifying and quick characterization of these disease symptoms is paramount to their effective control and management. Since there is a lack of research work on pomegranate black mould fruit rot diseases caused by Aspergillus niger. Realizing the gaps concerns the environmental factors affecting the prevalence of disease development and management of disease, the present investigation was undertaken with the objective: Management of post-harvest black mould fruit rot diseases of pomegranate by different methods.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiments were carried out at Division of Horticulture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru by using the variety Bhagwa with 11 treatments which are replicated four times in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Different chemical, physical methods, food preservatives&nbsp;and packaging were used to control the black mould fruit rot. 
 
Result: The epidemiological studies revealed that injury to the pomegranate fruits was found to be a prerequisite for infection. All the fruits inoculated by cork-wounding, pin-pricking, scrapping and rubbing method exhibited symptoms of rot. Cork-wounding proved to be the most efficient method of inoculation. Post-harvest dipping in hot water, fungicides, oils and food preservatives provided effective control of the rot. Oil suspensions were found effective in preventing the rot. Food preservatives were also found effective in preventing rot, potassium metabisulphite (KMS) 0.5 percent followed by sodium benzoate 0.5 percent proved most effective against the rot in both pre-and post-inoculation treatments. Packaging for postharvest storage showed very good performance in maintaining the quality of pomegranate fruits up to 12 weeks.</div>

​Effect of Different Post-harvest Treatments of Fungicides, Botanical Oils, Food Preservatives and Packaging on Black Mould Fruit Rot of Pomegranate

Background: In recent times, some parts of Assam have emerged as excellent destinations for the cultivation of exotic fruits like dragon fruits. But whether this fruit is economically feasible in Assam condition or not, it is important to beanalyzed. With this viewpoint, a study was conducted with objectives of examining the economic feasibility of dragon fruit production and identifying the problems faced in production and marketing of dragon fruit by the farmers in Kamrup (rural), Udalguri and Dhubri districts of Assam. 
 
Methods: Respondents were selected through a stratified purposive snowball technique to collect the primary data. Todetermine the economic feasibility of dragon fruit production, discounting measures of project appraisal viz., net present value, benefit cost (B-C) ratio and Internal rate of return were used. 
 
Result: At 6 per discount rate, the benefit cost ratio and NPV were worked out to be 3.49 and Rs. 8581855 per harespectively and IRR was reported as 87.21 per cent for 15 years of project appraisal. The major problems identified were high establishment cost in the initial stage, high requirement of labour, General unawareness about dragon fruit and their nutritional importance by consumers and low purchasing power of the consumer. Dragon fruit production was found to be profitable to take as an agribusiness venture. However, proper training and awareness programs are very much needed to popularize the fruits among the farmers as well as consumers. 
&nbsp;

Is Dragon Fruit a Promising Fruit in Assam: An Economic Feasibility Analysis

<div style="text-align: justify;">Profuse flowering and fruiting creates high demand for a limited source of carbohydrates, which affects fruit set and development. These plenty number of flowers and fruits must be reduced to allow the trees to produce fruit that meets market expectations for size, colour and quality. The concept of source-sink relationship and the regulation of carbon partitioning in plants is useful for better understanding of crop physiology and the influence of yield limiting factors on crop production. This relationship between source leaves and the various sink organs not only affects fruit production in the current season, but also the long term performance due to perennial nature of fruit trees. Modelling early season whole-tree carbohydrate supply and demand has greatly improved the understanding of response of trees to manipulation strategies relating source-sink alliance. Various strategies has been adopted to manipulate source-sink relationship like flower bud inhibition, flower thinning, fruitlet thinning, defoliation, girdling, pruning, application of hormones and nutrients etc. Thus, balance between vegetative and reproductive growth is an important aspect for improvement in yield and quality of fruit crops.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Manipulation of Source-Sink Relationship in Pertinence to Better Fruit Quality and Yield in Fruit Crops: A Review</div>

Background: Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) is highly nutritious and economically important fruit crop, cultivated worldwide is severely affected by fruit rot disease, leading to significant yield and economic yield loss.Present study aimed to provide the first report of fungal pathogens associated with strawberry fruit rot, which cause significant losses in India. Overall, the research provides valuable insights into the fungal pathogens responsible for strawberry fruit rot in India. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the disease and offer a foundation for effective field control measures against the disease. 
 
Methods: Survey and sampling (triplicate) of infected strawberry fruits were conducted from 2020-2023 across various sites of Gorakhpur division. The data analysis was performed by using R software. Isolation of fungal pathogen was done by Agar Plate methods and standard blotter technique. Morphological characterization was performed based on colony morphology and microscopic characteristics. 
 
Result: More than 350 symptomatic strawberry fruits were collected from 3 different cultivation sites, from which 211 fungal strains were isolated and morphologically identified as 15 different species. Among them, Botrytis cinerea, accounted for a higher proportion of all the strains present, comprising 64.6 % loss of fruits; followed by Colletotrichum spp. (17.4%,), Rhizopus stolonifer (9.6%), Fusarium spp. (4.6%) and rest of the isolated fungi like, Phytopthora spp., Mucor mucedo., Saccharomyces cerevisiae., Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp., Alternaria spp., Cladosporium spp and Curvularia spp caused 3.6% loss of fruits respectively. All isolates were found to be aggressive on both wounded and unwounded strawberry fruit.

Fungal Diversity Associated with Strawberry Fruit Loss in the Gorakhpur Division, U.P. India

<div>Background: Aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Goerth. Syn. Phyllanthus emblica L.) is one of the most important indigenous fruit of Indian sub-continent and cultivated since time immemorial. Amongst post-harvest diseases of aonla, blue mould rot caused by Penicillium islandicum Sopp. is most important as it affects the fruit yield and quality pertaining to the market value. 
 
Methods: A survey was conducted during November to January 2015-16 to assess the post-harvest practices and losses of Indian gooseberry in four locations of Hisar and Rewari districts of Haryana viz., CCS HAU Hisar orchard, terminal market of Hisar, Regional Research Station, Bawal orchard and terminal market of Rewari.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The survey carried out from first fortnight of November to last fortnight of January, 2015-16 revealed that the maximum per cent disease incidence (6 and 7.50%) due to blue mould rot was observed in terminal markets of Rewari and Hisar districts, respectively. The disease incidence was 7.0 and 6.25 per cent in fruits collected from orchards of CCS HAU, Hisar and RRS, Bawal respectively after 10 days of storage in laboratory. Some indigenous postharvest practices were observed being practiced in all the growing areas mostly by the growers and /or traders involved in harvesting.</div>

Incidence of Post-harvest Blue Mould Rot Disease of Indian Gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Goerth.) Incited by Penicillium islandicum Sopp.

Background: Charcoal rot disease, caused by the soil-borne pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina, poses a significant threat to strawberry cultivation in Maharashtra, India. This study highlights critical factors contributing to disease spread, including climate variables, soil characteristics and farming practices. We propose a comprehensive set of recommendations for improved disease management, aiming to enhance strawberry production and economic outcomes for farmers in Maharashtra. 
 
Methods: This study presents an extensive survey of charcoal rot incidence, severity and management practices in the region. Through rigorous field surveys conducted across 100 strawberry farms during 2020 - 2022 laboratory analyses of 2000 plant samples and detailed interviews with 300 local farmers, we identified the prevalence of the disease, its impact on yield and quality and the effectiveness of current management strategies. 
 
Result: Our findings reveal that 47% of surveyed farms reported charcoal rot incidence, with an average Disease Severity Index of 3.4 on a 5-point scale. Affected farms experienced yield reductions of 18-35% and significant decreases in fruit quality, with economic losses estimated at 150,000-400,000 per hectare. Chemical treatments and crop rotation are commonly employed, their effectiveness varies considerably. Integrated disease management practices showed the most promise in reducing disease severity, with a 40% reduction in DSI compared to conventional methods.

Survey of Charcoal Rot Disease of Strawberry in Maharashtra

<div>Post-harvest losses of fruits are a matter of concern for all those nations whose economy is based on horticulture. Fruits face tremendous loss due to old-fashioned preservation practice and ignorance about the preservation strategies. Consumers around the world demand for food of high-quality, without chemical preservatives and an extended shelf life. New technological advances in edible coatings for food may hold promise in extending shelf life, reducing packaging layers, meeting food safety and quality requirements. Among various coatings, edible coatings have been proven one of the best biologically safe preservative coatings for different types of foods because of its film-forming properties, antimicrobial actions, bio degradability and biochemical properties. It acts as a natural barrier to moisture and oxygen, which are the main agents of deterioration of fruits and vegetables. Edible coatings have the ability to prolong shelf life of the fruits by minimizing the rate of respiration and maintaining quality attributes. It has antifungal and antibacterial properties which provide a defensive barrier against microbial contamination. The present review describes about the different edible coatings and their potential application for enhancing the postharvest life and quality of different types of fruits.</div>