Stem-end rot and quality of 'Tommy Atkins' mangos from the wholesale market of campina grande-PB, Brazil/Podridao peduncular e qualidade de mangas 'Tommy Atkins' procedentes do mercado atacadista de campina grande-PB

Brazil stands out as one of the largest producers of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in the world. However, significant losses are observed in all stages of production chain, mainly in the retail market, which are correlated almost entirety to incidence of fungal diseases. In this way, the objective of this study was to determine the incidence of natural infection of Lasiodiplodia theobromae, causal agent of stem-end rot, and postharvest quality of 'Tommy Atkins' mangos, traded in the wholesale market of the Central de Abastecimento (EMPASA) from Campina Grande, State of Paraiba, Brazil. To determine natural incidence of the disease it was collected 40 fruits at mature-green maturity stage from four different wholesale marketing stores at EMPASA that were sent to the Laboratory of Phytopathology (CCA/UFPB). After sanitization, fruits were kept at room conditions (28 [+ or -] 2[degrees]C and RH 75 [+ or -] 6%) during eight days, determining first symptoms and signals of the pathogen. The characteristics of quality were determined by collecting 10 fruits from each wholesale marketing store. Fruits were transported to the Laboratory of Biology and Postharvest Technology (CCA/UFPB), where it was evaluated Soluble Solids (SS), Titratable Acidity (TA), SS/TA, and pH. Data were subjected to variance analysis and the means compared by the Tukey test at 5% of probability. Mango commercialized in the wholesale market of EMPASA, Campina Grande, showed low SS and high TA contents characterizing fruit at the beginning of maturation. Fruits showed 88.9% of natural incidence of stem-end rots in the eighth day of storage, which is deleterious for retail quality of fruits, characterizing a causal factor for the higher postharvest losses. Index terms: Mangifera indica, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, postharvest, retail losses. O Brasil destaca-se no cenario mundial como um dos maiores produtores de manga (Mangifera indica L.). No entanto, perdas significativas sao observadas em todas as etapas da cadeia produtiva, sobretudo na comercializacao varejista, sendo estas correlacionadas em quase sua totalidade a incidencia de doencas fungicas. Neste sentido, objetivou-se com este trabalho determinar a incidencia natural de Lasiodiplodia theobromae, agente causal da podridao peduncular, e aspectos da qualidade pos- colheita de mangas 'Tommy Atkins', comercializadas no mercado atacadista da Empresa Paraibana de Abastecimento e Servicos Agricolas (EMPASA) de Campina Grande-PB. Para a determi