A comparative study of bacteria and fungi associated with spoilage of banana and orange sold in Sokoto metropolis A comparative study of bacteria and fungi associated with spoilage of banana and orange sold in Sokoto metropolis

Abstract

Fruits are some of the essential elements of balanced diet required for good health maintenance. Banana and
orange are the most extensively produced fruits in the world, which implies that they are the most widely
consumed fruits and highly common. The comparative study of microorganism connected with spoilage of
banana and orange in Sokoto metropolis was conducted to identify some of the microorganisms (bacteria
and fungi) associated with the spoilage of fruits, with particular interest in banana and orange. Procedures
involved in these investigations include collection of samples from the local market, preparation in the
laboratory using standard procedure, and inoculation of samples into various Petri dishes containing nutrient
agar and potatoes dextrose agar for bacteria and fungi, respectively. The prepared samples were incubated
for 24 h at 34°C for the bacteria sample and for 5 days at room temperature for the fungal sample. The result
shows orange to present a higher number of bacteria species than banana, whereas, the fungal isolate showed
the same prevalence in both banana and orange, except for the frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus
species which presented 33% appearance in orange and 50% appearance in banana. The result from this
study shows that orange contains more microbes. This is associated with its high percentage of water content.
The moisture content and requirement for the growth of these fruit encourage the growth and development of
these organisms/pests. There is, therefore, the need to have proper understanding of some of the organisms,
as this will inform consumers on the implications of eating some of the fruits when they begin to spoil.