POSTHARVEST FRUIT ROTS OF AVOCADO ARE REDUCED BY BENOMYL APPLICATIONS DURING FLOWERING

Spray trials were carried out on avocado trees at two sites in the Bay of Plenty. At each site, trees received either two applications of benomyl during flowering or were left unsprayed. Several stem end rot pathogens (Phomopsis sp., Botryosphaeria sp. and Colletotrichum sp.) were isolated from flowers. Stem end rots were reduced in fruit harvested 10 months after fruit set from trees which had been sprayed with benomyl during flowering. Fewer isolations of Phomopsis sp. were made from flowers sprayed with benomyl and from stem end rots from fruit of sprayed trees compared with fruit from unsprayed trees. These results suggest that Phomopsis sp. may gain entry to avocado fruit at flowering and subsequently cause postharvest stem end rots.