Oduwaye OF¹, Omenna EC¹*, and Ogundeji BA²

¹Kenaf and Jute Improvement Programme, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Obafemi Awolowo University, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
²Crop Protection Division, Cocoa Research institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Omenna EC, Kenaf and Jute Improvement Programme, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Obafemi Awolowo University, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Received: March 12, 2018; Published: April 13, 2018

Citation: Oduwaye OF., et al. “Effect of Fungal Pathogens on the Nutritional Qualities of Kola Nuts (Cola nitida)”. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 2.5 (2018).

Abstract

  This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fungi on the nutritional quality of Cola nitida (also known as kola nuts) collected from two States in Nigeria namely: Ondo and Osun. Samples of apparently healthy nuts (AHN) and infected nuts (IN) were collected from the two States and subjected to proximate and mineral analyses. Fungi associated with the AHN and IN were isolated and identified. Morphological characterization of the isolates was carried out using fungi identification guides. The result showed that twelve fungi were associated with at least one of the two States. Six fungi: Aspergillus niger (A. niger), A. flavus, A. fumigatus, Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum ), Lasiodiplodia theobromae (L. theobromae) and Rhizopus stolonifer (R. stolonifer) were commonly associated with kola nuts from the two location; three fungi: Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (C. gloeosporioides) and C. lindemuthianum are specific to kola nuts from Ondo State while Fusarium solani and Penicillium expansum were peculiar to kola nuts from Osun State

  F. oxysporum (25%) and C. lindemuthianum (24%) had the highest percentage occurrence for IN and AHN respectively. Fungi infection on the kola nuts caused loss of 44.88% and 44.16% crude protein on nuts from Osun and Ondo States respectively. In addition, AHN from Osun had significantly higher crude fat and crude fibre than its Ondo counterpart while infected Osun nuts had the least crude fibre (4.1%).There was significantly lower mineral nutrients in all IN than their healthy counterparts from the two locations. Care must be taken while harvesting, handling, storing and transporting kola nuts to minimize the prevalence of fungi which induces rot.

Keywords:Kola Nut; Rot; Proximate Composition; Mineral

Copyright: © 2018 Oduwaye OF., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.