Asparagus postharvest diseases and postharvest handling

The summary "Commercial Postharvest Handling of Fresh Market Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)", by Larry Anderson and Cindy Tong, University of Minnesota, explains about harvesting, packaging, storage, mechanical and physiological disorders, and diseases. The last is the following text.The primary disease of asparagus is bacterial soft rot, caused by Erwinia or Pseudomonas spp. Spears with white butts are less perishable than all-green asparagus, but may be less desirable to consumers. Symptoms of this disease are soft, water-soaked, dark green, slimy pits on the spear, frequently on the tip or butt. Control soft rot by cooling spears immediately after harvest and maintaining low temperatures during storage. Soft rot can also be partially controlled by briefly exposing spears to 20% carbon dioxide before storage or keeping spears in 7% carbon dioxide during storage. Other diseases include the following: DiseaseCausal OrganismSymptoms Fusarium rot Fusarium spp. small, brown, oval lesions at stem base or tips, enlarging to soft rot and white or pink mold Phytophthora rot Phytophthora spp. odorless decay with white mold Blue mold rot Penicillium spp. white to blue mold at butt ends and bud scales ?The source of the picture, Fusarium, is veggies.msu.edu