Isolation and Identification of Rot Fungi Associated with Fruits Sold in Some Markets within Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

The study was carried out between July and August, 2009. Totally ten commonly sold spoilt fruits (orange, banana, pineapple, date palm, tomato, garden egg, water melon, guava, Shear butter, and coconut), were collected from retailers at Rimi, Kurmi and Kofar Wambai markets in Kano Municipal local government. The samples outer surfaces were disinfected with 0.1g/lit sodium hypochlorite solution and then homogenated using distilled water in a blender. The homogenates were cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates and incubated aerobically at room temperature for 7 days. Pure cultures of the resulting fungal colonies were obtained from primary plates and identified by using morphological and microscopical characterizations. All the samples were infected with one or more fungal species such as Aspergillus, Penicilium, Rhizopus, Mucor, Alternaria Cladosporium, Neurospora and Fusarium. Among this, the most predominant pathogenic fungus was Aspergillus. Pathogenicity test with isolated fungi on fresh fruits showed that some were found to grow and cause spoilage. Proper handling from the farm and storage and as well as avoiding the mixing of spoilt and good fruits were identified to be important factors that could be helped to prevent contamination and loss. Fumigation with chemicals like sulphur dioxide, washing with fungicides or hot water and use of standard storage facilities were also recommended to prevent economic loss due to fungal pathogens. Analysis of variance at (P<0.05) showed no significant difference between the frequency of occurrence of the fungal isolates. This indicates that any of the isolates has the potential to cause infection on any fruits