OCCURRENCE AND IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGAL ROTS IN TOMATO (LYCOPERSICUM ESCULENTUM MILL) FRUIT

Abstract

Tomato fruits have high nutritional qualities, but their spoilage by soil-borne pathogens results in food poisoning. It is important to isolate and identify the strains of fungi associated with tomato rot, to understand their pathogenic state. Seeds of 3 genotypes of tomato were grown in both hydroponics and soil systems. It is a factorial experiment laid in a completely Randomized Design with four replicates. The number and weight of fruits produced, number of infected and uninfected fruits by rots were recorded. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA and means were separated using LSD at 5 % significance level. At harvest, the infected and uninfected fruits were harvested and 10 g each were sliced, dissolved in sterile distilled water and were serially diluted before plating on sterile Potato Dextrose Agar-PDA and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar-SDA media with 2 % streptomycin and incubated at 28oC for 3 – 7 days. Genotypes and substrates were significant in the rate of fruit infection, with the Roma tomato having 78.1 % fruit infection rate, while the identified fungi from the infected tomato fruits are Aspergillus flavus and Mucor racemosu, as no organism grew in the uninfected fruits cultured in both PDA and SDA culture media.