**5. Postharvest treatments**

Usually, fruits that are contaminated or infected with disease inoculum shortly before harvesting do not show any symptom of the disease due to latency. This state of infection at the time of harvest leads to a lethal level of the disease shortly after harvest. This leads to huge quantitative loss of the produce. As much as synthetic fungicide applications still remains as one of the most basic and effective ways of managing the disease [42], their application to the fruit after harvest seams not to be safe for human consumption as it could lead to fatality [43]. This calls for an eco-friendlier approach in managing the disease postharvest, as an effective alternative for chemical control. Various treatments are applied to the fruit to prevent or perhaps retard the development process of the disease [44]. This treatment usually has to do with temperature manipulation [45]. At the onset of ripening of the fruit postharvest, fruits can be refrigerated at 10°C to retard the development of the disease. However, it must be noted that fruits should not be chilled before ripening to reduce or avoid chilling injury and further reduce the quality of the fruit. Fruits may also be dipped in hot water (usually at temperatures 50–60°C) for a duration of up to 15 minutes [46]. The effectiveness of this method has made it to been known as one of the most effective and environmentally friendly postharvest control methods of the mango anthracnose and has been recommended by several disease control departments across the globe. Fruits may also be exposed to vapour heat, forced-air dry heat for about 3–6 hours at appropriate temperatures. However, in all these treatments, the temperature levels and duration of exposure depends greatly on the variety of the subject. Also, various treatment combinations has been found to be effective in the management of the disease [47]. For example, beromyl has been reported to be very effective in the management of quiescent infections of the anthracnose disease in mango when it is coupled with the various hot water treatments. On the other hand, prochloraz has also been found very effective when combined with cold water treatment. However, this was said to be less effective as compared to the beromyl treatment. It is also important to note that the effectiveness of any of these methods has a direct baring with the variety or cultivar. This means that in choosing a particular postharvest management method, one as to put into consideration the variety of the mango. For example, morphological feathers such as skin thickness of mango varies from variety to variety. For optimum effectiveness, treatment should be applied to varieties as may be applicable. The overall effectiveness of postharvest treatment approaches is said to be moderate in the management of the disease. This could perhaps be because treatments are only aimed predominantly at managing the disease and not as a protectant. In summary, the following treatments has been recommended to be effective for postharvest management of mango anthracnose; scrubbing with 1% NaOCl, hot water dip (50-55oC for 3–10 minutes), hot benomyl dip (500–1000 ppm), hot/cold prochloraz dip (400–l000 ppm), hot imazalil (1000 ppm), hot water +20 k RAD irradiation, hot water +75 k RAD irradiation, hot benlatc/iprodionc (1000 ppm) + 75 k RAD irradiation + waxing [48, 49].
