Abstract
Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) are grown all around the world for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural purposes to commercial and ornamental sales. The pathogens causing the rot of pumpkin in the world include fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Three hundred and sixty-six (366) fruits of pumpkins were studied in Pela, Gaya and Kulinyi districts of Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The diseased samples (fruits) were randomly purchased. Of all the districts visited, Kulinyi has the highest percentage of disease samples (43.82%) while the least is Gaya district with 21.35%. Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) was used for the isolation of pathogens and these gave Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and Phytophthora capsici. All the fungal isolates exhibited different degree of pathogenic effect on the pumpkin fruits. The pathogens are susceptible to treatment both in-vitro and in-vivo control trials with wood ash and mango leaf at p ≤ 0.05. Inhibition improved with increased in concentration of the wood ash and mango leaf. Rice chaff treatment equally proved worthwhile with significant inhibition compared to the control at p ≤ 0.05. Key word: Pumpkin fruit, pathogens, ash, mango leaf, rice chaff.
Highlights
Pumpkin, one of the common names for flowering plants that belong to the Curcubitaceae family with four genera which include Curcubita maxima, Curcubita pepo, Curcubita moschata and Cucurbita mixta
In Hong Local Government of Adamawa State, there was a huge production of pumpkins, but the crops suffer from many diseases which destroy both the crops and fruits during harvest and storage resulting to economy loss
A total number of 366 harvested pumpkin fruit were inspected in the three districts from the studied area, 89 diseased pumpkins were recorded during the survey (Table 1)
Summary
One of the common names for flowering plants that belong to the Curcubitaceae family with four genera which include Curcubita maxima, Curcubita pepo, Curcubita moschata and Cucurbita mixta They are characterized by spreading vines with showy yelloworange flowers, large lobed leaves, long twisting tendrils and thick shell which contain the seeds and pulp (Neel et al, 2017). They are grown all around the world for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural purposes (such as animal feed) to commercial and ornamental purposes (Wolford and Banks, 2008).
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