A review of postharvest disinfestation of cut flowers and foliage with special reference to tropicals

The commerce of floricultural commodities is very important to the economy of the producing locations. To protect the agriculture of consumer countries, import regulations require that the product be free of insects. Successful disinfestation eliminates the pest without damage to the commodity. Current postharvest approaches to disinfestation are hand removal, irradiation, fumigation, insecticidal dips, temperature treatments, and the use of biological control agents. In this review, the advantages, disadvantages and status of each method are discussed with examples provided