Abstract:
Sorghum is considered one of the major cereal crop and staple food as well for millions of the poorest and most food insecure people in many part of the world and in Sudan as well. The production and consumption of sorghum is constrained by several factors, the most important among which are seed-borne fungal species. In addition to causing quantitative losses, these spoilage fungi produce highly toxic and carcinogenic mycotoxins. In view of the negative public health and economic impacts of fungi producing mycotoxins associated with sorghum grains, this study, aimed at exploring and investigating on presence of pathogenic fungi associated with seeds in samples of sorghum collected from Gadaref, and Rabak in Sudan under different storage conditions. The results obtained revealed that irrespective of source of seed samples, the association of seed borne fungi with sorghum grains in different varieties appears to be a prevalent situation. The four most prevailing seed borne fungi recorded across sorghum varieties and storage facilities were the storage ones; Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus Niger, Alternaria solani and Phoma longum with varying level of incidences ranging from 3.33 to 63.3%. The significantly high percentage incidence was given by the fungus P. longum (63.3%) in variety Fetarita. The predominance of some spoilage fungi under modern silo storage was attributed to infection prior to storage. The significance of these results was discussed.
