Characterization and Identification of Diverse Fruit Rot Fungal Species Using Microscopic and Spectroscopic Approaches.

Abstract

Given fungi's critical role in public health and their impact during pandemics such as COVID-19, precise identification and classification are essential. Additionally, fungi hold significant value in medical and economic applications. For this work, fungi were isolated from various fruit. The fungi were initially identified based on their morphological characteristics using microscopic techniques. To achieve a comprehensive characterization, the eight fungal species were analyzed using rapid and cost-effective spectroscopic techniques, including attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy (RS), and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Fungal samples were used in the powder form, generating distinct spectral fingerprints in the biochemical region specific to components such as proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids. Results demonstrated the efficacy of these spectroscopic approaches for rapid and accurate identification, enabling discrimination between fungal species and reliable classification at the genus level. The results showed the species were identified as Aspergillus parasiticus, Phytophthora spp., Chaetomium globosum, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium sp., Penicillium italicum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Myrothecium roridum. This highlights the potential of these techniques as efficient tools for fungi identification.