BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN GARDEN EGG (Solanum melongena L.) FRUITS CAUSED BY FUNGI

Garden egg (Solanum melongena L.) fruits are major sources of food in Nigeria, especially during weddings and occasions. This major food crop is constantly being affected by fungi, causing deterioration of the fruit. Biochemical analyses were carried out, according to the methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, to determine the changes that occur in two locally identified varieties of garden egg (Solanum melongena L.) fruits inoculated with Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor hiemalis and Rhizopus stolonifer. The two varieties are ‘Yallon bello’ (YB) and ‘Chi da Masoyi’ (CM). Significant increases were observed in moisture, protein, crude fat, fibre and ash contents of the two varieties inoculated with the fungi, as compared with uninoculated fruits. In the YB variety, A. alternata, A. flavus, M. hiemalis and R. stolonifer increased the moisture content 2.4%, 4.2%, 7.2%, 6.0%; protein content 2.0%, 2.0%, 3.2%, 2.2%; crude fat content 4.5%, 5.5%, 4.5%, 5.5%; fibre content 2.5%, 2.0%, 2.0%, 2.0%; and ash content 20.0%, 20.0%, 24.3%, 22.9%, respectively. The four fungi caused a significant reduction of 8.0%, 9.4%, 14.0%, 14.0% in carbohydrate, and 1.2%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 1.6% in vitamin contents, respectively. Similarly, in the CM variety, A. alternata, A. flavus, M. hiemalis and R. stolonifer increased the moisture content 3.3%, 3.8%, 4.8%, 3.8%; protein content 4.8%, 3.0%, 4.8%, 4.1%; crude fat content 6.9%, 5.4%, 8.5%, 10.0%; fibre content 3.4%, 2.5%, 4.1%, 3.6%; and ash content 10.4%, 11.6%, 14.0%, 10.5%, respectively. The four fungi caused a significant decrease of 7.0%, 6.2%, 8.5%, 7.7% in carbohydrate, and 1.5%, 1.1%, 1.9%, 2.1% in vitamin contents, respectively. The results of this research showed that fungi are associated with the deterioration of garden egg fruits and alters the nutritional components of the fruit.