Isolation and Identification of Bacteria Associated With Spoilt Friuts Sold in Birnin Kebbi Market by Firdausi Yusuf Rumu (adm No. 1810208029) a Project Submitted to the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Federal Univ

ABSTRACT Citrus is one of the most important commercial fruit crops grown in all countries of the world. Antioxidants are the substances, compounds or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow oxidative damage to our bodies. Pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr.) is a type of tropical plant originating from Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. It is a popular fruit from which a huge amount of waste is generated on a consistent basis. The aim of this project research work is isolation and identification of bacteria associated with spoilage of different fruits (Orange, Pineapple and Watermelon). The samples (spoilt orange, pineapple and watermelon) was collected aseptically from Central Market Birnin Kebbi into different sterile containers and transported to the laboratory for further analysis. Pour plate method of inoculation was used 1ml of generally diluted sample was dispense in a plate and about 15ml of nutrient agar was poured accordingly. Isolative and differential media was used for the isolation. 1ml of the prepared sample was inoculated in about 15ml of the prepared medium using pour plate method of inoculation. Fruits are natural sources of minarels, vitamins besides carbohydrate and other essential substances. However most of the bacteria isolated in our study has been isolated previously in fruits in other studies. less than (36.4%)o the sample from market contained Escherichia coli and Salmonella 9.1%. on the other hand only 57.1% of the market sample showed Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The findings of this study revealed that four bacteria were succesfully isolated in three types of spoiled fruit viz. Staphylococcus species with higher percentage of occurance of (40%) followed by Corynebacterium species(26.7%) Escherichia coli(20%) Streptococcus species(13.3%)). The plate count of isolated bacteria shows that there was no significant difference between the total plate count. It was found that the Staphylococcus species streptococcus specie, Escherichia coli and corynebacterium species were the dominating species that played a huge role in the spoilage of fruits sold in Birnin Kebbi Main Market, Nigeria.