Detection of Fungi and Aflatoxin Contamination in Shelved Fruits of Dialium guineense Wild, Rivers State, Nigeria

Detection of fungi and Aflatoxin contamination in shelved fruits of Dialium guineense Wild was carried out in the Department of Forestry and Environment, Rivers State University of Science and Technology and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Laboratories. The fruits for the experiments were obtained from three markets in Port Harcourt Metropolis; Choba, Rumuwoji (Mile 1) and Rumukwurushi (Oil mill) and stored in sterile black polyethene bags. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments and three replications. The fungal pathogens isolated from the infected fruits of D. guineense were Aspergillus niger Van Tieghn, Rhizopus microcrosporus var. microsporus Stephen & Mondo, Penicillium purpureum Stolk & Samson and Penicillium minioluteum Dierckx. There was significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) among the most frequently occurring fungus in the three markets; A. niger (884 ± 2.03-998 mg ± 4.81) followed by R. microsporus var. microsporus (576 ± 0.55-688 mg ± 0.83) P. purpureum (144 ± 0.03-251 mg ± 0.34) and P. minioluteum, (84 ± 0.02-132 mg ± 0.01). The use of Moringa leaf extracts significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced the growth of test fungi when compared to PDA (0% ppm) without leaf extract. The use of biopesticides such as moringa leaf extracts can help in protecting our fruits from pathogen attack. These plant leaf materials are cheaper for the poor-resource farmers and also environmentally friendly. Aflatoxin assay revealed that healthy looking fruit of D. guineense was 3.7 ± 0.021 iμ/ kg, infected, 3.8 ± 0.01 iμ/kg and the standard value was 4.0 ± 0.15 iμ/kg. The study has also shown that healthy looking fruits of D. guineense contain some amount of mycotoxins though not in hazardous quantity.

Author(s): Pepple GA, Chukunda FA and Ukoima HN

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