Exploitation of natural products as an alternative strategy to control stem end rot disease of mango fruit in Pakistan

Abstract

Stem end rot (SER) disease development is the major issue affecting the delivery of quality mangoes to distance markets especially through sea-shipments. Non availability of registered fungicidal products in Pakistan for the management of SER disease of mango is a major hurdle to overcome this enigma. Investigations were carried out to exploit natural products instead of fungicides for the effective management of SER. Fully mature but unripe mango fruits were collected from major mango growing belt of Punjab Province. The fruits were stored in cold storage (12°C; 4-5 weeks) and ambient storage (25°C; 2 weeks). After ripening, fruit under ambient and cold storage revealed that SER was the most prevalent disease. Associated pathogens appeared during ripening were isolated and identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Phomopsis mangiferae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea and Cytosphaera mangiferae. In subsequent research the efficacy of different plant extracts (Cichorium intybus, Peganum harmala, Syzygium aromaticum, Moringa oleifera, Coriandrum sativum and Cinnamomum zeylanicum) at different concentrations was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Results revealed that M. oliefera, S. aromaticum and C. zeylanicum showed statistically significant antifungal activity agains mycelial growth of tested pathogens and SER development.