DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2016.v04i10.015

Pages: 880-885

An extensive survey on fungi associated with post-harvest deterioration of carrot and radish storage roots was conducted during 2014-2015 in different market places of Odisha, India. Rotten samples were collected from five different localities such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri, Balasore and Bhadrak. Three fungal species such as Aspergillus niger, Geotrichum candidum and Rhizopus oryzae were isolated from the rotten samples. Of these, Geotrichum candidum has highest percentage frequency of occurrence in both carrot and radish. In carrot next to Geotrichum candidum, Rhizopus oryzae showed more frequency of occurrence than Aspergillus niger but in case of radish the case is just opposite, here the percentage frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus niger was found to be more than Rhizopus oryzae. Pathogenicity tests revealed that all the isolated fungi were pathogenic to their respective host storage roots. However, Rhizopus oryzae was found to be most pathogenic on carrot leading to rapid disintegration of the infected roots while Geotrichum candidum was the least pathogenic. In case of radish, Aspergillus niger was found to be more pathogenic and Rhizopu oryzae was least pathogenic. The use of improved varieties, good storage facilities and adequate control measures need to be encouraged in order to reduce storage rot of carrot and radish storage roots.