Isolation, Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Fungi Associated with Stored Millet Grains

Abstract

Millets (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br), are a group of small-seeded grasses, cultivated around the world as cereals crops for food and feed. They have excellent storage properties of about four to five years but like every other crop, are infested by fungi species, both morphological and molecular characterization of the common fungal species causing storage diseases of the millet grains was done. The millet grains were obtained from National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) at Ibadan, Oyo state. Fungal isolates gotten were identified using macro- and micromorphological techniques. The DNA of the most isolate MT-01 was amplified and sequenced using Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS-1) molecular markers. The MT-01 isolate DNA sequence was aligned using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for Nucleotide (BLASTN) 2.8.0 version of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The amplified DNA sequences of the millet isolates yielded 580 base pairs. Based on sequence similarity, it was observed that the millet isolate MT-01 was 100% identical to Curvularia eragrostidis strain ZM10074 and 99% identical to Curlvularia clavata isolate Cc-wyi (green colour). From the above result, these findings show that Curvularia spp. is the causal fungal pathogen of storage diseases of millet grains. It is recommended that millet grains should be stored under strict hygienic conditions to prevent microbial contamination which may cause diseases and allergic reactions.