ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF MICROORGANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH ROT DISEASES OF FRUIT, STEM AND LEAF OF Carica papaya L.

📄 Project Abstract

Fruit, stem and leaf rot is a major constraint to Carica papaya production. Twenty-one papaya plant samples showing soft rot symptoms and comprising of fruits, stems and leaves were collected from the Covenant University Papaya Research Plantation for microbial investigation. The back, first layer after the back, inner layer and the seeds from four papaya fruits, as well as stems (4) and leaves (4), showing symptoms of sooty rot and white fluffy rot, were also analyzed. Following sample preparation and serial dilutions, three dilutions of each sample were plated out in duplicates on nutrient agar, potato dextrose agar and papaya fruit agar using the direct inoculation, streak, pour plate and spread plate methods. Pure cultures of each observed microorganism was purified using sub-culturing techniques, then cultural, microscopic and biochemical characteristics were used for identification of specific isolates. Koch's postulates for the determination of the microbial etiology of diseases...