There are many vegetable fruits recognized in Nigeria, but tomato, a vegetable fruit is a major food component, an ingredient utilized by every house hold and constitutes the national food security programme. The record confirmed that Nigeria produces approximately 1.8 million metric tons of fresh fruits for domestic consumption, with national demand of about 2-3 million tons per annum with a demand gap of about 500,000 metric tons.
Tomato production is an important source of income to farmers unfortunately diseases such as Alternaria alternata greatly increase food losses and methods of using synthetic chemical compounds can be costly and dangerous if applied by an unskilled operator and are often not available at the time when required.
As a result this study focused on the effect of hot water dipping on the control of black mould disease caused by Alternaria alternata on red tomato quality. The efficacy of a prestorage hot water dip was investigated for reducing storage rot on tomato caused by Alternaria alternata.
