Isolation and Identification of Fungi causing Spoilage of Tomato Fruits in Makurdi Benue State Nigeria

Abstract

Post-harvest losses from tomatoes are a huge challenge in Benue State. This study was designed to identify fungal pathogens responsible for post-harvest spoilage of tomato fruits in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Tomato fruits showing symptoms of decay were obtained from four (4) markets namely; Modern, Northbank, Wadata, and Wurukum respectively. A total of forty (40) tomato fruits, ten (10) from each location were collected. Fungi were isolated on Potato Dextrose Agar using the direct plating technique. The disease-causing potential of the isolates was carried on healthy fruits and the incidence and severity of the decay caused by the fungi were recorded. Data on the occurrence of fungi were analysed using Chi-square (χ2) to show the relationship of fungal occurrence with respect to the location while the T-test was used to analyse the disease-causing potential (pathogenicity) of the isolated fungi. A total of five (5) fungi were isolated from the decaying tomato fruits which include Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp., Mucor spp., Bipolaris spp., and Cylindrocladium scoparium. The results revealed Mucor spp. with the highest occurrence of 11(34.4%) and the least in a novel found fungi Cylindrocladium scoparium 1(3.10%), which was not statistically significant with respect to the different locations (χ2 = 20.41, p > 0.05) in this study. A T-test revealed statistically significant differences in the pathogenicity of tomato fruits inoculated with the test fungi as compared to the control (p<0.05). The presence of these pathogenic fungi is a threat to human health on consumption.