Susceptibility to fungal infection: A comparison between Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens

Abstract

Experiment was carried out to compare the susceptibility of Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens on sale to fungal infection at Sharada and Rimi markets in Kano metropolitan area. A total of four fungal species were isolated from samples of C. annuum and C. frutescens collected from the two markets. Out of the colonies isolated, the most abundant colony was A. niger (84, 39.25%). This was followed by R. stolonifer (71, 33.17%) and A. fumigatus (37, 17.28). The least occurring colony was A. flavus (22, 10.28). The difference between the four species was statistically significant at P < 0.001. On the basis of location, more colonies were isolated from samples collected from Sharada market (126, 58.87%) than Rimi market (88, 41.12%). The results indicate that hot or sweet features have no influence on the fungal infection of the sample from the two locations. More isolates were counted on Mondays (133, 62.1%) while 81 (37.9%) were counted on Thursdays. The differences between Mondays and Thursdays exposure was statistically significant at P<0.05.