Fungi associated with sweet potato tuber rot at CSIR - PGRRI, Bunso, Eastern Region, Ghana

Abstract

Rotten sweet potato root tuber samples were collected from a barn and experimental field of the CSIR - Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), Bunso. Isolation and identification of the fungi associated with the samples were carried out at the Plant Pathology Laboratory of the same institute. In all, six fungal species belonging to four genera, namely Fusarium solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger were isolated from the samples from both the barn and the experimental field of CSIR - PGRRI. Fusarium solani and Aspergillus niger were frequently isolated from the sweet potato tuber samples from both the field and the barn. Pathogenicity tests carried out using the six fungal isolates on fresh and healthy sweet potato tubers showed that all the six fungi isolated were pathogenic in causing rot of sweet potato tubers with Lasiodiplodia theobromae being the most virulent.