Studies on the Fungi Associated with Soft Rot of Carrot (Daucus Carota) in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria

A study was carried out on the fungi associated spoilage of carrot in Ilorin, north central Nigeria.  Carrot samples were collected from five locations in the city, namely; Ipata market, Challenge area, Adewole Estate, Sango, Kwara Hotel area and Sawmill. These were subjected to conventional fungal isolation procedures. Altogether, six different fungi were isolated and included were Aspergillus niger, Mucor racemosus, Penicillium italicum, Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium sp. and Alternaria sp. The most frequently occurring isolate was M. racemosus (58%) followed by A. niger, (45%) and P. italicum (38%). Carrot samples from the Ipata market were the most infested and yielded all types of the six fungi isolated. Artificial inoculations of healthy carrot roots singly with each of the isolates revealed that only P. italicum and Alternaria sp. caused rot in artificially inoculated carrot under the conditions of this study. Keywords: Carrot, fungi, soft rot, spoilage, Nigeri