Seed-borne fungi of chilli pepper in the Coastal savannah zone of the central region of Ghana

Abstract

Many chilli pepper (Capsicum frutescens) growers in the region have moved from chilli cultivation to other crops due to the continuous decline in yields as a result of disease problems, of which fruit rot is paramount. The study was carried out to identify the mycoflora associated with pepper cultivation in the Coastal Savannah Zone of Ghana. The purposive sampling technique was used to select farms from which samples were collected during the major rains (August – September 2012). Fruits at different stages of maturity were collected and the seeds were extracted and plated for seed health testing using the blotter paper method. The experimental design used was the completely randomized design. Data collected were analyzed using GenStat discovery edition 3. In all, a total of 35 species of fungi belonging to 17 genera were isolated from the samples. Chi-square test results of mean percent seed mycoflora infection gave the following test statistic values (χ2 = 7012.17, df = 29, and sig. = 0.00) and (χ2 = 10067.26, df = 33, and sig. = 0.00) for within pretreated and untreated seed samples, respectively. Unripe fruits recorded the highest mean percent infection by each fungus. The three most prevalent fungi were Fusarium species, Alternaria species and Acremonium strictum. These rot-causing fungi may be a contributing factor to the declining yields being recorded by the farmers and hence partly explains their shifting to other crops