Reducing decay of Avana mandarin fruit by the use of UV, heat and Thiabendazole treatments

The use of heat and UV-C treatments prevented natural decay development during storage of 'Avana' mandarin fruit at 8°C for 1 month. The alternative treatments resulted effective in containg citrus blue and green mold. The efficacy of both treatmets was increased when combined and, the interaction acted synergically against the two pathogens. The sequence of combination resulted important, indeed a greater efficacy occred when UV-C was applied after heat conditioning (95% RH; 36°C for 72 h). Thiabendazole treated fruit had the lowest amount of rotted fruit and the control (untreated fruit) accounted for the highest amount. UV-C alone affected fruit visual quality and increased weight loss. When combined with heat conditioning the quality was comparable to the control and TBZ treated fruit.