Some 5000 tonnes of mangoes worth approximately $20 million are sent to markets in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and in fact, the mango industry believes Australia has the potential to double exports over the next three years.

Dave Antrobus, Syngenta solutions development lead, said whether growers are producing pome fruit for the UK market or mangoes for the USA, there is one essential thing - the quality of the fruit.

“While growing a clean crop in the orchard is important, managing post-harvest diseases in the packing shed ensures growers can command top price for first grade produce,” Mr Antrobus said. 

“Post-harvest disease control needs to be planned effectively to manage areas such as fungicide resistance, longevity of disease control, sanitisation and hygiene, MRLs and more.” 

Mr Antrobus said many post-harvest pathogens are able to develop resistance to fungicides, particularly if they are treated repeatedly with the same one for too long.

“Industry best practice suggests that having a rotation system of post-harvest fungicides is essential to prevent resistance from building in the packing shed.”

The introduction of Scholar post-harvest fungicide by Syngenta was a welcome addition by tree crop growers for treating pome and stone fruit, many citrus crops and more recently mangoes.

Mr Antrobus said Scholar now has the potential to enhance the reputation of Australian citrus exports, with Japan’s food additive labelling now allowing this fungicide to be listed for citrus.

“Until recently, the use of Scholar in citrus packing sheds was limited because Japan’s food additive labelling requirements made it too hard to clear the red tape associated with this key export market.

“But thanks to some great industry collaboration between Citrus Australia, SARDI, DFAT, Austrade and Syngenta, the citrus industry now has a pathway agreed with Japanese authorities and industry for the entry of citrus crops treated with Scholar.

“This means packing sheds can now introduce a break in their program to give products like imazalil and/or TECTO a break during the season and this will help preserve the effectiveness of available chemistry in the post-harvest toolbox.”

Scholar provides long residual activity and sporulation control to reduce the spread of disease in the packing shed and in shipment.

It has a low use rate and a unique mode of action, and is compatible with most post-harvest waxes and is stable in chlorine and heat.

“Reducing post-harvest losses and packing costs, improving fruit quality and extending the shelf-life of fruit is what Scholar is all about,” Mr Antrobus said.