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Spoilage of fruits imparts great economic loss and a potential health hazard to the general populace. A research was conducted to identify the different types of fungal flora responsible for the spoilage of fruits in Bwari market, Abuja, Nigeria. Seventy fruits that showed decayed symptomatology and thirty healthy ones were procured from Bwari market. Sections of the rotten and healthy fruits were obtained using a sterile blade, inoculated onto Potato Dextrose Agar and incubated at 27°C for five days. All other mycological techniques were carried out using standard methods. The result showed the presence of Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus nigricans, Mucor mucedo, and Fusarium oxysporum. However, Aspergillus niger. (58.06%) was found to be the most dominant spoilage causing organism on fruits vended in Bwari market while Fusarium oxysporum (9.68%) was the least abundant fungal flora. However, the pathogenicity of Rhizopus sp. was found to be higher than that of all the remaining fungal species. This can be attributed to the predisposal and nature of fruits handling and storage in the market. Thus, because all the fungal species identified were known to produce toxins that could impart severe food poisoning, attention of the Original Research Article

A research was conducted to study the ethnomedicinal importance of some plants used as spices by the indigenous people of selected markets in the area. A self collection. The result obtained revealed the presence of fourteen different plant species representing nine families used as spices. These spices were found to be very effective against several clinical symptoms such as rheumatism, pneumonia, stomachache, fever, pile and ulcerative colitis among others. They also served as hypolipidemic, antithrombotic, anti hypertensive, anti-hyperglycemic, antihypercholesterolemic and immuno as anticancer agents. Garlic, clove, ginger, nutmeg and chilli pepper are the most predominant spices used in the area with relative frequent use of 25%, 24%, 21%, 15% and 9% respectively. The research also discovered their methods of preparation to vary from one location to another within the area. However, despite the roles they play in adding taste and flavor and nutritional composition to the diets, their usage is declinin changing pattern of food choice and urbanization coupled with economic melt therefore the need to call the attention of the health care sector to review the medicinal value of the spices and involve their applications into

The Nigeria's Sahel characterized as semi degradations due to natural and artificial factors. The natural factors are incessant droughts, desertification and short rainy season that limit crop production and decrease yield. The artificial factors include deforestation to feed more mouths and religious upheavals. These problems lead to low crop yields and inability of the subsistence agriculture to meet their social demands with increased spate of malnutrition, hunger and starvatio Victims abandoned their farmlands to seek refuge in the urban and semi country thereby leaving the land barren. Efforts are therefore needed to boost food production in the area. Mutation breeding is one of the best methods employed improve crops quality and quantity. It provides the ability of producing crops that are stress tolerance, longer life span, early maturing, high nutritional composition and yields with low agronomic in-puts This study therefore aimed at review breeding in improving crops quality and quantity so as to call the attention of the scientific community and the authorities concerned upon the application of mutants varieties in the area to boost crops production, call the national development. Priority crops such as cereals and legumes as well as vegetables needed in the diets ought to be improved by artificial mutagenesis. The method unlike others is more reliable, more ethical and safer. It provides crops that are better in both nutritional quality and quantity and hence safer to consume.