Isolation and Identification of Seed-Borne Fungi of Maize Grains from Cultivated in Phitsanulok Province, Thailand

บทคัดย่อ

Maize is an important agricultural product in Thailand. Most of the extracts from maize serve as the main element for animal feed while others are used in several recipes. Prior studies found that maize is contaminated by fungi including Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium which produce toxins affect human and animal. The main objective of this study was to isolate and identify seed borne fungi in maize grain cultivated in different districts of Phitsanulok province. The samples were collected from three sample sites in each districts in the Phitsanulok province namely, Mueang, Wangthong, Nakhonthai, Noenmaprang, Bangkrathum, Bangrakam, and Phromphiram districts. The maize grains were disinfected with 5% sodium hypochlorite solution. PDA plating method was conducted for the isolation of the fungi and cultural, a microscopic study was adopted for the identification. The seeds were highly contaminated with five fungal species (Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Rhizomucor, and Mucor) were detected in maize grains. Aspergillus spp. (28.07%) was the most dominant in maize grain from Noenmaprang and followed by those from Nakhonthai (17.65%), Mueang (15.12%), Wangthong (12.38%), Phromphiram (6.14%), and Bangkrathum (4.17%), respectively. However, Aspergillus spp. were not detected in in maize grain from Bangrakam. While, Fusarium spp. were highly presented in maize grain from Wangthong (9.52%) and followed by those from Bangkrathum (7.50%), Nakhonthai (4.2%), Noenmaprang (1.75%), and Bangrakam (1.67%), respectively. In contrast, Fusarium spp.were not detected in maize grain from Mueang and Phromphiram. In addition, the Rhizomucor spp. was the most common pathogen in the Bangrakam district. The Mucor spp. was more present in the Nakhonthai district.