Isolation and Identification of Fungi Associated with Fruit Rot Disease of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in the Southern Guinea Savannah, Nigeria

Rot disease is a major threat to tomato fruit production and postharvest handling in major tomato growing areas in Nigeria. Rotted tomato fruits were randomly collected from farmers’ farms for the purpose of isolation and identification of rot causing fungi in Tarka, Benue State, Nigeria between July and December, in 2015 and 2016. Results revealed that Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Alternaria solani, Phytophthora infestans, Oidium neolycopersici, Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium oxysporum, Verticillium spp and Colletotrichum spp caused tomato fruit rot in the area. In both years, the lowest number of fungi was recorded in the months of July and December while the highest number was obtained in September. The mean number of fungi isolated showed that S. rolfsii was the least with 3.17 in 2015 and 1.66 in 2016 while F. oxysporum was the highest with 14.33 in 2015 and 9.33 in 2016. There were more fungi isolated in 2015 than in 2016. There were significant differences (P≤0.05) in the mean number of A. niger, P. infestans, O. neolycopersici and F. oxysporum isolated in both years. In conclusion, farmers should handle tomato fruits with care, to reduce postharvest injury and damage in order to ensure the availability of disease free fruits and to increase the output for the global population.