Because microbial organisms are the variable that cause spoilage and damages to vegetables, due to their high H2O content, proper isolation and identification of these organisms in fruits will greatly reduce the spoilage of this perishable fruits and as such producers and consumers will be able to protect their fruits and also identify spoilt fruits that have been attacked by fungi. Researches have been done, articles and write ups have been made on the isolation of fungi and bacteria on fruits, but little or no work has been done on the isolation and characterization of fungi, on spoilt/damaged fruits within the location of Utako Market Abuja Nigeria.1.3 AIMThis study will be undertaken to isolate and identify fungi that are associated with spoilt fruits commonly sold in Utako market, FCT Abuja Nigeria and appropriate control measures will be recommended.
Also to determine the effects of the isolated fungi on an health fruits if it causes the same fungal diseases. 1.4 OBJECTIVES? To isolate fungi responsible for spoilt fruits in Utako Market. i.e. (A total of 15 fruits Pineapple, Water melon, Tomato, Orange, and Apple.
? To identify the fungi in spoilt fruits.? To determine the prevalence and pathogenicity (using Koch’s postulate) of fungal organisms.? To create public health awareness about the preponderance of fungal organisms. 1.5 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMA study of this nature must have problems which results in it. This problem will result from how this microorganism is associated with the spoilage of Apple, Water melon, Tomato, Pineapple and oranges.
And cause decay to these fruits and make them undesirable for human consumption. The microorganisms associated with the spoilage of these fruits includes; yeast and molds, bacterial and fungal species. Physical observation made on many fruits sold in the market today revealed that, most of them were unfit for consumption. This could be due to either physiological factors or becoming infected with micro organisms, which make this fruits unattractive for human consumption and may cause problems to human being as well as animal. This work is targeted at understanding if fungi species maybe responsible for the unacceptable feats. 2.0 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 ETYMOLOGY OF SELECTED FRUITS USED FOR THE PROJECTApple (Malus domestica or Malus pumila): this fruit is usually rounded red, yellow, or green appetizing pome fruit of a usually cultivated tree (genus Malus) of the rose family.
The tree originated in central Asia, specifically in the region of the central west.Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum or Lycopersicum esculentum): A round fruit with bright red skin and pulpy seedy flesh, eaten cooked or raw as vegetable. It is also a prominent vegetable crop across the world, devised in West South America (Kimura and Sinha, 2008). The fruits of tomato are widely held throughout the world and are used in all kind of stews, soups and also eaten raw in salads.
Ripe tomato fruits have high nourishing values, being a good source of vitamin A, B, C and minerals (Elsayed and Edrees, 2014). Because of the significance of tomato as food, it has been bred to improve productivity, fruit quality, and resistance to biotic and a biotic stresses (Kimura and Sinha, 2008).Orange (Citrus sinesis): also known as sweet orange is the most prevalent of the citrus fruits. It is extensively cultivated in most regions of the world, infatuating a rich source of vitamin C, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and pectin.
Pineapple (Ananas Comosus): A large fruit with juicy yellow flesh, which has a thick lumpy yellowish brown skin, and a tuft of tough pointed leaves at the top.Water Melon (Citrullus vulgaris): this is a large oval or round fruit with a hard green skin, and sweet and juicy pink, red or yellow flesh, usually with many black seeds mostly found in Africa. This fruit is known for its value to the human it is widely used for many purposes e.g.
healthy skin, regulates hormonal imbalance, gives healthy hair, promotes eye sight e.t.c.2.
2 Researchers outcomeThe study conducted by Rashad et al.,(2011) This study examines the current damage of fruit fungi and their plant cell wall demeaning enzymes of various fresh postharvest fruits sold in Jeddah city and share in establishment of a fungal outline of fruits. Ten fruit spoilage fungi were secluded and recognized as follows but Aspergillus had the highest occurrence.
Fusarium oxysporum (banana and grape), Aspergillus japonicus (pokhara and apricot), Aspergillus oryzae (orange), Aspergillus awamori (lemon), Aspergillus phoenicis (tomato), Aspergillus tubingensis (peach), Aspergillus niger (apple), Aspergillus flavus (mango), Aspergillus foetidus (kiwi) and Rhizopus stolonifer (date).Similarly, Akinro, E.B. et al., (2015) conducted the research Among Seven fungi species, Aspergillus sp., Rhizopus sp., Candida sp., Fusarium sp.
, Phytophthora sp. and Mucor sp. A total of twelve fruits were isolated. The out come is Aspergillus flavus was isolated from pawpaw (Carica papaya) and pineapple (Ananas comosus), where as, Aspergillus niger was isolated from orange (Citrus sinensis), Rhizopus sp.
was attained from pawpaw (Carica papaya) and Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Candida sp was isolated from orange (Citrus sinensis) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) mean while Fusarium sp. and Mucor sp. were isolated from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and Phytophthora sp.
from pineapple (Ananas comosus).According to Dimphna, Nneka Ezikanyi.,(2016) All rotten tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) secured from five different market in Abakiliki, fungal diseases were identified. Rotten tomatoes from Kpirikpiri (209) and Meat (189) markets had the highest number of fungi isolates compared to Presco (152), Ukwuakpu (132) and Afia offuu market (111) .
Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium dominated in rotten tomatoes than Cladosporium and Rhizopus. A total of 793 fungi isolate was recorded, they were Aspergillus 300 (38.8 %), Penicillium 144 (17.2 %), Fusarium 212 (26.9 %), Cladosporium 63 (7.6 %) and Rhizopus 74 (9.5 %) in diminution order of dominance. Correspondingly, Oviasogie, F.
E et al.,(2015) isolated seven fruit spoilage fungi from some Orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit samples. Aspergillus niger, Mucor species and Rhizopus species were fungal species isolated from New Benin market.
A. niger, P. chrysogenum, R. stolonifer, Alternaria, C. tropicalis and Mucor species were fungal isolates from sweet orange from Oba market.
Fungal isolates such as A. niger, Alternaria species, R. stolonifer, C. tropicalis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified from sweet oranges obtained from Uselu market while Satanna market sweet oranges had fungal isolates such as Penicillium digitatum, C. tropicalis and Mucor species.I.Y Tafinta et al.
,(2013) also reported that his work was carried out in sokoto metropolis on sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) using 100 samples of it. At first he collected 70 samples from three different markets; central market, kasuwar daji and old market respectively. The analysis was conducted in Usman Danfodio university.
The fungal analysis shows that Apergillus fumigatus, Apergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus stolonifer are associated with the spoilt sweet orange fruit (Citrus sinensis) with frequencies of occurrence of 22%, 17 %, 25 % 36% respectively. He later collected 30 fresh samples of orange again ten from each of the markets were obtained respectively and incubated to check the spoilage ability for each of the identified fungi inoculated. The result shows that R. stolonifer and A.
flavus were the most active with rots diameter of 45 mm and 35 mm, respectively. And the least active fungus was A. niger having a rots diameter of 25mm. Samuel Malafia et al., (2017) reported, Aspergillus niger had the highest occurrence in pineapple, watermelon, oranges, pawpaw, and tomatoes with a frequency of 38%. Fusarium avenaceum followed with the frequency of occurrence of 31% in fruits such as pineapple, watermelon, oranges, pawpaw, and tomatoes where as Penicillium digitatum and Rhizopus stolonifer had the least frequency of 4% each in tomato; and orange and tomato, respectively.
Other fungal species were identified as yeast (Saccharomyces species) (10%), Fusarium solani (8%), and Aspergillus flavus (5%). The highest prevalence rate was 70% of A. niger from orange followed by F. avenaceum of which 65% isolates were recovered from pawpaw. Other fungal organisms such as yeast (Saccharomyces species), P. digitatum and R. stolonifer were isolated with varying prevalence (40%, 20%, and 5%) from watermelon, tomato, and orange, respectively.
However, there was no significant difference in the fungal load of the various fruits studied (analysis of variance=478.2857, p
