Post-harvest Fungi Of Stored Common Bean Cultivars In Menoua Division, West Region, Cameroon

In Cameroon, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is amongst the legumes which are greatly consumed. Farmers in Cameroon especially the Menoua Division grow different common bean cultivars which after harvest, are stored to be used as food over the storage period or for sale. Storage of agricultural products become prone to fungal infection over time. Studies on the microbiology of stored common bean has identified fungi as a major contaminant. However it is possible that the incidence and severity of fungal infection vary with different common bean cultivars over the storage period. This research aimed at assessing the population of fungi on common bean cultivars both at harvest and storage grown in the Menoua Division of Cameroon and also to characterize the fungal species obtained from these cultivars. Six different common bean cultivars both at harvest and storage were evaluated for fungal contaminants using PDA media. Initial characterization of fungal isolate was done morphologically. A One-way ANOVA was performed on the fungal population on the different common bean cultivars to determine whether their mean values were significantly different (P ≤0.05). Results showed that a total of 31 fungal colonies resulted from the plated common bean cultivars at harvest, while 80 fungal colonies were obtained from the stored cultivars.