Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
Pathogenicity and molecular characterization of bacteria isolates at postharvest storage of Ibadan sweet, Valencia, and Washington navel citrus fruits
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Abdul-Rahaman Adams, Irtwange Simon V., Aloho Kortse P., Yadav Ajar Nath
Research Articles | Published: 26 May, 2025
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Keywords: Oranges, Bacterial isolates, Pathogenicity, PCR-DGGE, Biochemical, Postharvest, Decay
Abstract
The presence and invasion of pathogenic bacteria while handling fresh orange fruits is one of the major causes of deterioration at postharvest. Ibadan sweet, Valencia, and Washington navel varieties of orange fruits exhibiting symptoms of spoilage were taken out from the stored fruits for the pathogenicity test. Characterization of bacterial isolates was based on the morphology of the colony formed, Gram staining and biochemical testing using standard identification procedures. A Completely Randomized Design with triplicates was used, and controls were inoculated with sterile selective and non-selective nutrient agar. The results demonstrated a distinct incidence of Pseudomonas sp., Morganella sp., Klebsiella sp., and Bacillus sp. The disease incidence was more pronounced in Pseudomonas sp inoculated in Valencia fruits (86.67%), significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 relative to all other interactions, with the least in Bacillus sp. inoculated in Ibadan sweet fruits (8.89%). The results confirm that, based on 16s rRNA characterization and sequence comparison based on NCBI BLAST, the percentages of similarity gave high diversity among the isolated bacteria. Spoilage of orange fruits was attributed to Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. earlier reported by biochemical and microscopic analysis in this study. The findings provide an immense insight into the pathogenic bacterial isolates in postharvest management of orange fruits.
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Author Information
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Postharvest Division, Dr. Hilla Limann Technical Univesity, Wa, Ghana