FUNGI ASSOCIA TED WITH DECA YED SWEET ORANGES ( Citrus sinensis ) COLLECTED FROM LAP AI, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

This study was aimed for isolation, characterization and identification of fungi associated with decayed sweet oranges collected from Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria. Samples of sweet oranges were collected from Police Barrack, Minna Motor Park, Badeggi Market, Soje Garrage and Unguwan Gwari from Lapai. Segments (3-5 cm) of tissue from the margins of decayed C. sinensis were cut with sterile scalpel and were placed on the prepared Sabouraud Dextrose Agar in petri dishes and incubated at 28 0 ± 1C for 5 days. The mycelia of isolated fungi were fixed in lactophenol cotton blue on slides and were viewed under the microscope. The fungi isolated were Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus niger, Candida tropicalis, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium solani, Penicillium chrysogenum and P. digitatum. A. niger was the predominant fungus isolated from all the samples collected, while P. chrysogenum and P .digitatum were the least fungi isolated in this study. C. sinensis collected from Soje Garrage had the highest occurrence of fungal isolates 8 (32%) followed by sweet oranges from Minna Motor Park with 5 (20%) of fungal isolates, while sweet oranges from Police Barrack, Badeggi Market and Unguwan Gwari had the least occurrence of fungal isolates 4 (16%) each. The pathogenicity tests showed that the fungal isolates isolated from the decayed sweet oranges were able to produce the same signs in the healthy oranges when re-inoculated.