Fungal Pathogens Triggering Distress In Tomato Plants (Nursery & Field) : Diagnosis of tomato diseases

Exploratory scientific research carried out on a disease ravaged tomato farmland in Ibadan, showed that several strains of fungal species caused a series of infections in different varieties of cultivated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.); resulting in massive destruction of both plants and fruits due to the sporadic spread of the disease. Sadly, most of the tomato crops were lost for that season. Disease symptoms observed on the field during survey include; leaf spots, blight of lower leaves, severe necrosis of foliages; wilting and formation of whitish mycelia mass around affected root region, resulting in the death of some affected plants; Also, fruit rots and lesions were observed on both green and ripe fruits (Etaware and Oyetunji, 2019).A total of 17 Fungi were isolated from infected tomato plants collected from the field, out of which 12 fungi were declared pathogenic at the end of the pathogenicity test conducted using Koch’s postulate. Most of the Aspergillus sp. isolated caused severe damage on the tested plants with symptoms produced similar to those observed in the field. Fusarium verticilliodes and F. scirpi were the most virulent of all the Fusarium sp. isolated. As such, the status of each pathogen was duly confirmed by the tests performed.