摘要：This study is aimed at establishing that fungi constitute the major causes of sweet potato tuber spoilage. A total number of 60 samples of sweet potato tubers were used for the study. 40 samples of dotted sweet potato tubers were collected from Kawo market and 20 freshest more from a farm along Kaduna Zaria express way, Kaduna, and were brought to the mycology lab for experiment. 40 samples with dotted spotwere considered as spoiled. Each of the 40 spoiled samples was cut and the liquid content inoculated on potato Dextrose Agar and incubated at 25 ºC and observed for 4-30 days after which the different colonies obtained were sub-cultured and later identified using the slide culture technique. Twenty (20)fresh and healthy potato tubers were used for pathogenicity test. A total of five (5) fungal species were identified which were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus stolonifer, and Penicillium species. From the results obtained, Aspergillus flavus has the highest frequency of occurrence (45%) and Aspergillus niger(30%) respectively. All fungi proved to be infectious on the sweet potato tubers, hence causing spoilage. Surface damage during handling and harvesting should be avoided as they serve as a major entry point of disease pathogens. There should be improvement of storage facilities for the harvested sweet potato tubers in other toprolong the shelf life of the crop.
