**4.3 Chemical control**

Just like in most scenarios, the application of chemicals seems to be one of the most effective and fastest ways of managing the mango anthracnose disease. Nevertheless,


#### **Table 1.**

*Mango cultivars resistant to the anthracnose disease [21].*

under severe pressures, one has to conduct up to 25 applications in a season to achieve desired results. Also, the choice of fungicide is also dependent on the variation in requirements of proposed destination or purpose of the fruit. For example, Dithiocarbamate (an effective active ingredient for anthracnose disease control) produces ethylene thiourea (ETU) as a bio-product. Due to this, fruits that has a history of the application of ethylene-bisdithiocar- bamates such as mancozeb and maneb are prohibited in the United States. Most frequently, copper fungicides are recommended for the control of most fungal disease, which the mango anthracnose is not an exception. In as much as some success stories has been documented, there are also contrasting studies that has revealed that under higher disease pressures, copper-based fungicides are usually less effective as compared to the carbamates. Not only that, few reports have also reported some phytotoxicity associated with the application of fungicides of various sorts. Post-infection fungicides such as the benzimidazoles has also been used in combination with protectant fungicides such as the imidazole prochloraz to retard the build-up pressure of the mango anthracnose disease [27–29]. This chemical s usually affects the mycelia development of the fungi by supressing the synthesisation of ergosterols, a very important component of the cell membrane of a fungus [30]. One advantage for this combination is that it also retards the build-up of resistance in the population of the pathogen. Other reports have also documented the use of clarified hydrophobic neem oil (70%) to effectively control the mango anthracnose disease.

### **4.4 Biological control**

Biological approach of managing disease is the use of antagonistic organisms in managing diseases. In the cases of mango anthracnose, an array of microorganisms have been postulated to have an antagonistic association on its causative agent (*C. gloeosporioides*) [31]. However, even though this looks very promising, there is no current documentation of commercial implementation of this finding. In expense, keen attention has rather been placed on the postharvest control method. Perhaps, this could be as a result of the ability to manage controlled environment conditions as compare to field situations. Nevertheless, the antagonistic potentials from such biological agents can be harnessed as an intervention to developing a more robust management approach to the disease. An example was cited in a study on the efficacy of essential oils in managing the mango anthracnose disease [32]. As all other disease management approaches, the efficacy of biological control method can be enhanced with an integration of other control measures [33].
