Abstract
Specimens of rotted potato, tomato, chilies, sponge gourd, onion and garlic yielded 90 species of fungi. Among these, species of Aspergillus, Penieillium and Fusariurn were of dominant occurrence. Majority of the isolated fungi proved pathogenic, however, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus ni,gricans and Fusarium atysporum produced hundred per cent infection to their respective hosts. Most of the fungi grew well on basal medium at 25-30 C but species of Aspergillus showed best growth at 35 *C.
INTRODUCTION
Fungi play an important role in deterioration of vegetables. Dry rot of potato tubers during storage and marketing has been reported to be caused by various species of FliSafill171 (Qureshi and Ghafoor, 1966). Red pepper fruit has been attacked by Rhizoctonia bataticola, Curvularia Alternaria tennis and Geotrichunt candidurn (Rao, 1965), Rot of onion in stores has been caused by A. niger and Pen/dill/an spp. (Maude et al., 1984), Since knowledge of fungal species responsible for vegetable rot is necessary for their control, this paper reports on the extent of fungal infection on various vegetables, their pathogenicity and temperature requirement for growth.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Isolation: diseased specimens of potato, tomato, chilies, sponge gourd, onion and garlic were collected from the local market, vegetable shops and cold stores in Faisalabad. Small bits from these specimens were disinfected with 0.1% 1-IgC12 solution, rinsed twice in sterilized water and then placed either on moistened filter paper or
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on solidified potato dextrose agar, in petridishes which were incubated at room temperature (2.5-30 ° C). Pure cultures of the fungi were obtained by hyphal tip technique and these were maintained in agar slants in refrigrator at 4° C. The isolates were identified under the Binocular Leitz Wetzler Research Microscope with the help of literature (Gilman, 1959; Toussoun and Nelson, 1968). Pathogenicity tests: Inoculations of isolated fungi were made on their respective vegetables after disinfecting them with methylated spirit and making injuries by a sharp sterilized scalpel. Vegetables injured and inoculated with sterilized water served as the check. All the treatments were placed in sterilized dessicators at room temperature (25-30 ° C) for one week. Then per cent rot for each fungi species on each vegetable was recorded. Re-isolations were made from the inoculated vegetables and the re-isolated fungi were compared with the previously isolated fungi. Effect of temperature on the growth of fungi: Pure cultures of various pathognic fungi were incubated on basal medium in petriplates and there were four plates for each fungal inoculation
