Nutritional composition and fungal spoilage of African pear (Dacryodes edulis) fruits sold in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria

  • Chukunda FA Department of Forestry and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State, Nigeria
  • Offor U Stephen Department of Agricultrual Sciences, Ignatus Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Keywords: Fungal spoilage, fungal pathogens, nutritional composition, rot tolerance, storage stability

Abstract

The nutritional composition and fungal spoilage of Dacryodes edulis fruits were carried out in the Department of Forestry/ Environment Laboratory using standard procedures. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six treatments and three replicates. The fungal pathogens isolated from the rotted fruits were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizopus stolonifer, Fusarium pallidoroseum, Botryodiplodia theobromae and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. The predominant spoilage causing fungi were Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (60%) and Aspergillus niger (52%). Proximate analysis revealed that the affected fruits had significantly reduced (P<0.05) quality when compared to the uninfected fruits in terms of carbohydrate content, protein, oil content, moisture, crude fibre and Ash content. This work holds promise on the importance of the nutritional properties of the fruits in screening for rot tolerance and storage stability.

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Published
2015-09-29
How to Cite
FA, C., & Stephen, O. U. (2015). Nutritional composition and fungal spoilage of African pear (Dacryodes edulis) fruits sold in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria. Journal of Research in Biology, 5(6), 1809-1814. Retrieved from https://ojs.jresearchbiology.com/ojs1/index.php/jrb/article/view/393