Isolation and Identification of Fungi Associated with Raw Groundnut Seeds Sold at Four major markets in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State
Abstract
The isolation and identification of fungi associated with raw groundnut seeds obtained from four major markets in Port Harcourt Metropolis was carried out in the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology Laboratory (Pathology unit) in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) using standard procedures. The identified fungal isolates include Aspergillus, Penicilium, Mucor, Rhizopus and Fusarium species. Aspergillus spp. with a mean value of 2.0 was the predominant fungi (P<0.05) identified followed by Fusarium spp. (1.1) and the least was Penicillium spp. (0.5). Mile three market recorded the highest (P<0.05) fungal incidence with a mean value of 1.44, followed by Mile one market (1.40) and the lowest was Rumuokoro market (0.70). Large seeds were more prone to fungal contamination with a mean of 1.2 than small seeds (1.0). Similarly, unwholesome seeds recorded the highest (P<0.05) amount of fungal incidence with a mean of 1.7 than wholesome seeds (0.5). Public awareness should be carried out on personal hygiene of food vendors, market sanitation, storage conditions and management practices for improving the quality of raw groundnut seeds sold in Port Harcourt markets to reduce contamination level.
Keywords: Raw groundnut, seed size, healthiness, market and Fungi.
![Download the IISTE publication guideline!](https://www.iiste.org/sub/iiste_footer_journal.jpg)
To list your conference here. Please contact the administrator of this platform.
Paper submission email: JBAH@iiste.org
ISSN (Paper)2224-3208 ISSN (Online)2225-093X
Please add our address "contact@iiste.org" into your email contact list.
This journal follows ISO 9001 management standard and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Copyright © www.iiste.org