Mycological Assessment of Deteriorated Lycopersicum esculentum Fruits Sold in Wukari Nigeria

Lycopersicum esculentum (Tomato) fruits are widely consumed in raw and processed forms owing to their high nutritional value. However, high water content makes them more prone to microbial attack especially spoilage by fungi. In this study, fungi associated with deteriorated tomato fruits sold in Wukari, Nigeria were assessed. A total of thirty (30) deteriorated tomato fruits were collected, ten (10) each from the three markets (Federal University up-gate mini market, New market and Yam market) and assessed for fungi using standard microbiological methods. The result shows that fungal load in all the markets ranged from 1.0 × 105 sfu/g to 3.0 × 105 sfu/g and Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Rhodotorula species, Mucor species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Fusarium species were isolated from the various samples. The percentage occurrences of the various isolates on the samples show that Aspergillus niger was the most frequent (63.33%), followed by Fusarium species (43.33%), Aspergillus flavus (33.33%), Mucor species (26.67%) and Rhodotorula species (23.33%) while Saccharomyces cerevisiae (10.00%) was the least. In each sampling location, the percentage occurrences of all the species were highest at Yam market site (35%), followed by Federal University up-gate mini market (33.33%) while New market site was the least (31.67%). The pathogenicity result showed that the healthy tomato fruits after being inoculated with these fungi isolates deteriorated spontaneously through the period of 5 days and the organisms were recovered after culture on freshly prepared nutrient medium. Some of these organisms are known to be human pathogens, hence care must be taken when handling and using deteriorated tomatoes to avoid infections from these organisms.