Isolation and identification of storage fungi from citrus sampled from major growing areas of Punjab, Pakistan
2013
Akhtar, N. (Punjab Univ., Lahore (Pakistan). Inst. of Agricultural Sciences) | Anjum, T. (Punjab Univ., Lahore (Pakistan). Inst. of Agricultural Sciences) | Jabeen, R. (Punjab Univ., Lahore (Pakistan). Inst. of Agricultural Sciences)
Stored citrus fruits were collected from cold storage houses of major citrus growing areas of the Punjab, Pakistan and storage fungi were isolated from the sampled fruits. The fungal isolates were identified as Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. terreus, Penicillium verrucosum, Rhizopus arrhizus, R. stolonifer, A. parasiticum, Fusarium oxysporum, P. citrinum, A. awamorii, Alternaria alternata, F. solani and Mucor sp. based on morphological characteristics. The frequency of occurrence of each fungal species was determined; P. italicum was found the most frequent with the highest occurrence of 29.75% among all isolates, followed by the A. niger (14.87%), while Dreshlera sp. having the least occurrence (0.82%). Hence, P. italicum was chosen for the molecular characterization among its different geographically distinct isolates through random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The UPGMA based dendrogram showed three distinct groups, which coincide with the geographical locations from where the isolates were collected. The total variation of 23% among the isolates confirmed that the isolates are of the same species and the source of variation can be due to the environmental factors. The variation can also be contributed by switching off and switching on of some genes under certain environmental conditions.
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]