ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH CABBAGE(Brassica oleraceae var.capitata) UNDER GENERAL SANTOS CITY "BAGSAKAN" CONDITION

One of the biggest losses incurred in post-harvest of vegetable crop production is caused by pest and diseases. Cabbage (Brassica o/eraceae var. capitata) a high valued vegetable crop is one of those vulnerable to the attacked of fungal pathogens. The study was conducted to isolate and identify the fungal pathogens attacking cabbage in ''bagsakan'' condition. This study ''Isolation and Identification of Fungi Associated with Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae var. capitata) Under General Santos City 'Bagsakan' Condition" was done in the laboratory facility of the College of Agriculture, Fatima Campus in the City of General Santos from November 2016 to March 2017. Cabbage available in ''bagsakan'' _came from the areas near the foothills of Mt. Matutum and Mt. Apo particularly Miasong, Tupi, South Cotabato and Kapatagan, Davao del Sur respectively. The cabbage variety collected as samples is ''wakamini''. There were six (6) cabbage samples considered suspected of fungal infection isolated and identified under laboratory examination. Each of the infected leaves along with adjacent small unaffected parts were cut into 2-5 square millimeter and directly planted on prepared Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) bottles. Samples were incubated under ambient condition until fungal colonies appeared and become visible. Pure culture was obtained through sub-culturing different colonies on individual PDA bottles until the desired purity was attained. The morphologic characteristic used in identification includes colony growth and color while microscopic characteristics include shape of the spore, reproductive type, hyphal color and form. Fungal species isolated and identified were Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A.carbonarius, A. japonicus Aspergillus sp., A. puniceus, Penicillíum sp, Rhizopus stolonifer, Curvularia lunata, and Botrytis cinerea. The genus of Aspergillus had the highest rate of occurrence in four out of six samples 011 PDA bottles. Rhizopus stokmifer and Penicillium sp. were most frequently observed in three out of six samples or 20% of all the samples tested.