Microbial Rotting of Stored Yams (Dioscorea spp.) in Nigeria

SUMMARY The incidence of rotting among three varieties of yams (Dioscorea rotunda, D. alata and D. cayenensis), stored in a yam barn at Ibadan for about four months, was between 0·6 and 68·5 per cent. The micro-organisms which caused rotting on experimental re-inoculation into yam tubers were the fungi, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Penicillium sp., Marcophomina phaseoli, Hendersonula toruloidea and a motile gram-negative orange-red pigmented bacterim, probably Serratia sp. This is the first record of the ability of M. phaseoli, and H. toruloidea to cause rotting in yam.