Influence of rice dust with different packaging materials on fungi incidence of postharvest rot of sweet potato (Ipomea batata, L.) in storage

Abstract

The high perishability of sweet potato tubers during storage remains one of the major constraint to producer across Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa. Effect of rice dust with three different packaging materials (Baskets, Sack bags and Cartons) and control on post-harvest quality of tubers was evaluated for 12 weeks. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design replicated three times. Data were collected on weight loss, rot incidence and severity, isolation and identification of the isolates. Data obtained were subjected to 2-way Analysis of Variance and significant means were separated with Tukey HSD test at 5% probability level. The study showed that there was no significant difference among the treatments. However, rice dust with carton and control at 12th weeks had the highest (100.00 %) weight loss while rice dust with Sack bag had the least (94.39 %). Similarly, rice dust with carton and control at 12th weeks had the highest (100.00 %) rot incidence while rice dust with sack bag had the least (87.77%). The isolated organisms were Botryodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifers, Trichoderma viride, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium oxysporum. B. theobromae was prevalent with 51.32%. The percentage distribution of 46.05%, 34.21%, 18.42% and 1.32% were obtained for the treatments from Carton, Sack bag, Basket with rice dust and Control respectively. The study concluded that among the different materials evaluated, rice dust with Sack bag were the best method for sweet potato storage due to reduced weight loss and reduced rate of tuber decay compared to otherstorage materials.