Abstract

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of fungal rot on nutritional quality of Annona fruits sold in Yola, Adamawa state, Nigeria. Rotted annona fruits were randomly sampled from five markets in Yola. Fungi associated with the annona rots were isolated using Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) culture medium and were identified as Aspergillus niger, Poma herbarum and Rhizopus stolonifer. Results from proximate analysis of the infected fruits and healthy fruits of Annona senegalensis and Annona squamosa indicated that there were increase in the moisture (15.4%) and ash (14.6%) contents of A. senegalensis and 14.8% moisture and 14.6% ash contents of A. squamosa in the freshly harvested fungal infected fruits relative to the apparently healthy ones, while there were decrease in the protein (11.4%), fat (8.3%), fibre (30.2%) and carbohydrate (20.1%) content of the fungal infected fruits relative to the apparently healthy ones. Correlation test carried out show that the nutrient composition of the fungal infected and the apparently healthy fruits are significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The results are clear indications that fungi not only cause rotten on fruits but also reduce the nutritional values of fruits as well.