Abstract
Airborne fungi one of the major components of aeromycobiota known to produce several fungal diseases in fruits and vegetable as well as allergic disorders in human being. The total 17 genera Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Curvularia, Drechslera Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Monilia, Nigrospora, Mucor, Phoma, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Rhizoctonia, Trichoderma and Stachybotrys were isolated during the study period of January to December 2018 from fruit and Vegetable markets of Karachi. The range of average temperature of the Karachi city was in between 20ºC to 33ºC and the humidity ranged from 33 to 70 percent during study period. The maximum fungal spores were recorded in the month of August whereas minimum noted in January 2018. Some isolated genera such as Aspergillus, Alternaria, Fusarium, Rhizopus and Penicillium cause rottenness of fruit and vegetables in local markets of Karachi. Most contaminated site with airborne fungal spores was the Sabzi Mandi followed by Saddar, Landhi, Nazimabad and Gulestan-e-Johar vegetable markets.
