This collection of papers includes some of the presentation given at the International congress
of Plant Pathology held in Beijing in 2013 in the session of Recent Development in Postharvest
Pathology. Fruit production for human consumption is an important part of the market economy.
Any waste during to spoilage and pest infestation in the field and the postharvest phase
results in significant economic losses which are more pronounced as the losses occur closer to
the time of produce sale. Careful handling of perishable produce is needed for the prevention
of postharvest diseases at different stages during harvesting. Handling transport and storage
in order to preserve the high quality produce. The extent of postharvest losses varies markedly
depending on the commodities and country estimated to range between 4 and 8% in countries where
postharvest refrigeration facilities are well developed to 30% where facilities are minimal.
Microbial decay is one of the main factors that determine losses compromising the quality of
the fresh produce. For the development of an integrated approach for decay management cultural
preharvest harvest and postharvest practices should be regarded as essential components that
influence the complex interactions between host pathogen and environmental conditions.
Orchards practices including preharvest fungicide applications can also directly reduce the
development of postharvest fruit decay. Among postharvest practices postharvest fruit
treatments with fungicide are the most effective means to reduce decay. Ideally these
fungicides protect the fruit from infections that occur before treatment including pathogen
causing quiescent infections as well from infection that are initiated after treatment during
postharvest handling shipment and marketing. The implementation of these alternatives
techniques often requires modifying currently used postharvest practices and development of new
formulation for their applications.The present chapters deal with the newest report related to
postharvest pathology in the world.
