The areas planted with avocado in Colombia have increased to position this fruit in international markets. To achieve this goal, the offered fruits need to meet optimal production standards. The aim of this study was to identify the main physiopathologies and damages that may cause the rejection of avocado cv. Hass fruits for export purposes during pre-harvest, harvest, and processing in packinghouses, and quantify the economic impact of said exclusion criteria. Typological characterization and quantification of damages that may cause fruit rejection were performed at the laboratory, field, and packinghouses. Data were obtained from 136 Colombian productive plots with monitoring and data collection records for a minimum of five years. At the packinghouse level, data associated with factors that affect quality (both, those identified at packing plants and those detected in simulated shipments) were considered. The main causes of fruit rejection during pre-harvest and harvest were: low calibers, damage to the epidermis by insect pests from the subfamily Melolonthidae, thrips, mites, the bug Monalonion, overripe fruits, and sunburn damage. In addition, pathologies such as anthracnose and stem end rot, and problems associated with browning of vascular bundles, irregular ripening, chilling injury, and lenticel damage were highly limiting at packinghouses. The economic analysis identified losses of 5.78 and 5.68% in farms and packinghouses, respectively, which are equivalent to US dollar (USD) 80.29 per produced ton. This work generated information that allows prioritizing strategies to improve fruit quality and reduce economic impact.

Postharvest diseases and disorders are two of the most important parameters associated with the quality of avocado fruit. The aim of this study was to identify postharvest diseases and disorders in Hass avocado plots and to evaluate their relationships with different preharvest agronomical practices. This work was developed in 20 commercial plots of Hass avocado dedicated to production for national and export markets. The first part of this work was associated with the identification and characterization of diseases and disorders related with postharvest of avocado. In addition, it was determined the incidence of each disease and disorder based on simulation of postharvest scenarios for the national and export markets. Using a multinomial logistic regression model, it was possible to determine that the presence of each disease and disorder were related to crop management practices, soil and leaf and fruit nutrients levels. Most relevant postharvest disease and disorders were anthracnose, stem-end rot, chilling injury, and lenticel damage. Additionally, variables such as dry matter, plant pruning, and tissue concentration of Ca+2 were related with some pathologies and disorders. This work presents an advance in the recognition of postharvest diseases and disorders in avocado under tropical conditions, besides determining the main edaphic and anthropogenic associated factors.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is an emerging pathogen affecting tomato-production systems in several countries, including Mexico. This situation involves challenges due to the negative impact on yield and the lack of disease-management measures. This work analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution of ToBRFV in commercial tomato greenhouses. The presence or absence of diseased plants was evaluated weekly, assigning a location in space (x, y). Temporal analysis consisted of fitting the incidence to the monomolecular, logistic, log-logistic, Gompertz, exponential, Weibull, and Richard models, evaluated using the Akaike information criterion, significance, correlation, coefficient of determination, and root mean square error. Spatial analysis consisted of determining spatial aggregation using the Moran, Fisher, and Lloyd indices. In addition, spatial distribution was assessed by sequence observations, point patterns using the inverse distance index, and analysis by SADIE distance indicators. Results indicated that the logistic models (log-logistic and logistic) best described the temporal progress of ToBRFV. This disease also had slightly aggregated patterns in the initial phase, highly aggregated in the exponential phase, and uniform in the deceleration and stationary phases. This study demonstrates that the spatial and temporal dynamics of ToBRFV have important implications for the monitoring, diagnosis, management, and risk prediction of this disease.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that presents diverse threats to global food security. Of the avocados (Persea americana Mill), Hass is the most commonly cultivated variety in the world, representing an important source of nutrition in numerous countries, yet its potential risks in the face of climate change are unknown. Here, we characterise current and future potential distributional areas for Hass avocado under different scenarios of climate change across the Americas. We use ecological-niche modelling approaches to explore implications of changes in climate, considering 22 general circulation models, two emissions scenarios, and six model parameterisations. The current potential distribution of Hass avocado extends across tropical America (excluding most of Amazonia), including some areas at higher latitudes. Future projections show stability in potential distribution. Range expansions are expected mainly in temperate areas, and range contractions are related to temperature and precipitation increases, mostly in Amazonia. Model parametrisations contributed the most to overall variation in future projections, followed by climate models, and then emissions scenarios. Our conclusion of relative stability for the crop’s potential distribution is still subject to effects on other components of avocado production systems, and may be vulnerable to extreme phenomena.

Avocado is currently an important crop in Colombia, given its growth in planted area and the increase in exports. The destination market of Colombian avocado is mainly international, and its quality is outstanding. However, the physical and chemical characteristics associated with the quality of the avocados produced are not currently well known in Colombia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical, chemical and nutritional parameters associated with the quality of Hass avocado in eight localities of the department of Antioquia based on descriptive statistics. Additionally, the quality was related to the localities through a multivariate analysis. As a result, quality at preharvest parameters of Hass avocados cultivated in Antioquia is similar or superior to that reported internationally based on physical and chemical variables. In addition, a relationship was established between the quality of fruits and the plots where these were cultivated, which allowed discriminating fruits by their region of origin. This work shows an approach to the determination of quality parameters in Hass avocado in Colombia and how they can be related to the characteristics of its productive system, which can lead to defining a product with added value.