Fisam Fatima Aliyu, Aishatu Abubakar* and Muhammed Adamu Hassan
This study was carried out at Microbiology laboratory of Bauchi state university Gadau to isolate and identify pathogenic micro-organisms associated with deterioration of tomatoes fruits. Fruits samples of infected and noneffected tomatoes were collected from an open market Azare in Bauchi, Nigeria. The infected tomatoes were directly plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) for fungal growth, incubated at room temperature, and observed from 24 hours to 7days. Also each tomato flesh was streaked on nutrient agar (NA) for the Bacterial growth and incubated at 37°C for 48 hours. Identification using slide culture technique was followed after which different colonies were obtained. The study also aimed at evaluating the efficacy of some selected plant crude extracts against the postharvest tomato damaging pathogens. The organisms identified that cause’s post-harvest tomatoes spoilage were Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Geotrichum candidum, causes the most rapid destruction followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis causes the least rot demonstrating that it is not one of the most damaging pathogen. Ginger, Garlic and Neem crude plant extracts were found to have potential anti-microbial compounds that inhibit tomato fruit rots at various concentrations. The evaluated concentrations were effective against the test pathogens but efficacy varied with the concentration. The most effective crude extract was Garlic being effective in each concentration compared to others, followed by Ginger and then Neem. The extracts also were effective in controlling tomatoes rot.
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