Isolation and identification of fungal flora associated with groundnut in different storage facilities.

Abstract

Stored and unshelled groundnut samples were obtained from different storage facilities, namely Rumbu, Market silos and Warehouse with the aim of isolating and identifying fungi associated with stored groundnut in different storage facility. Samples were grounded and cultured on SDA plates for 5 days and fungal floras microscopically identified. A total of 25 colonies were isolated from all the samples from which 6 fungal species were identified, namely Mucor, Aspergillus, Rhizophus, Curvularia, Pencillium and Fusarium spp. Of these, Mucor and Rhizopus were most prevalent having been isolated from the three storage facilities studied. Curvularia and Penicillium were both found in the warehouse and market silo while Fusarium was encountered only from the market silos. It is concluded that the market silos were more susceptible to fungal contamination than the Rumbu because of the high moisture content of the sample.

Keywords: Arachis hypogea, storage facility, fungal species,
contamination, Nigeria