ABSTRACT

Food spoilage refers to various changes in which the food becomes less palatable or even toxic to consumers these changes may be accompanied by alterations in taste, smell, appearance or texture. The aim of this study is to isolate and identify fungi associated with spoilage of Tomato. Tomato samples were purchased from Ubani Main Market in Umuahia, Abia State Nigeria. They Will be transported to the microbiology laboratory of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in a sterile polythene bags for fungal isolation. One gram of each of the spoilt tomatoes was carefully cut with the aid of a sterile scalpel and enriched in sterile sabouraud Dextrose broth for twenty four hours. Ten fold serial dilutions of the samples were thereafter carried out. The pour plate method was used. One milliliter of the serially-diluted sample (10³) was dispensed into a conical flask containing sterile Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and two percent chloramphenicol to inhibit bacterial growth. The contents were properly mixed and dispensed aseptically into sterile petri-dishes. Incubation was carried out in an inverted positioli at 28°C for five days. The colonies that developed were counted and subcultured repeatedly on Sabouraud dextrose agar plates to obtain pure cultures. They were later stored on SDA slants for characterization and identification. After incubation, the fungal isolates from the fruits were Yeast, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Alternaria , and Colletotrichum. The percentage occurrence of the fungi isolated from rotten tomatoes showed that Aspergillus 31%, was predominant followed by Colletotrichum 25%, Rhizopus 18%, while Alternaria 12%, and Yeast 12% was least predominant respectively. The result of the pathogenicity test showed that the fungi inoculated into the healthy tomato fruits had the same features as the ones re-isolated from them, indicating that the fungi were responsible for the spoilage of the tomato fruits. Aspergillus produced the highest rot in the tomato fruits, while Alternaria produced the lowest rot diameter in the tomato fruits. Good quality control measures must therefore be employed by the farmers, marketers and consumers during the harvesting, transportation, handling and processing of the fruits.