The banana is the second more consumed fruit in the world, but there is a product loss of about 40% from field to consuming market due to several factors including the postharvest diseases, being the anthracnose most significative among them. Considering the necessity of studying the environmental factors that affect this losses, the objective of this work was to evaluate methods of inoculation (PDA discs with pathogen structures and suspension of conidia with and without wound) and the influence of temperature (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30ºC) and wet period (0, 12, 24 and 36 hours) on the development of Colletotrichum musae on banana. The fruits were inoculated with 17 isolated of C. musae and all of them showed pathogenicty when inoculated with wound independently of the type of inoculum used. In the trial envolving temperature and wet period three isolates of C. musae: MAG2, SFV1 and FSA were used, which showed high, intermediate and low aggressiveness, respectively. The temperatures around 20, 25 and 30ºC and all wet periods tested favored the lesion development, being observed the biggest lesions under temperatures of about 25 and 30ºC, as well as lesion reduction induced by all isolates with decreasing of temperature. The temperature around 15ºC favored the lowest disease development on banana fruit.
anthracnose; postharvest; pathogenicity; environmental factors