ABSTRACT The Petroleum Industry has a huge potential for the pollution of the environment at every stage of its operation, hence the need to constantly fashion out new strategies for maintaining the sanctity of our environment. Fungi associated with diseased Irvingia gabonensis (Baill) seeds found in the open markets were suspected to possess the ability to degrade the hydrocarbon substances contained in these seeds. These fungi were isolated bimonthly from the diseased seeds of I.gabonensis...
ABSTRACT African nightshades (Solanum scabrum) is one of indigenous vegetables widely consumed in Kenya. It is used for food, income and for medicinal purposes, but faces low yields due to severe damage by aphids. Yield losses due to aphids is estimated to about 84-96% in Kenya. Aphids have developed resistance to synthetic pesticides. There is need to search for ecofriendly alternatives such as the use of botanicals like pyrethrum which are cheaper. Pyrethrum extracts are known to control in...
ABSTRACT Biological control of Ceratocystis paradoxa using Trichoderma spp. were conducted on oil palm spouted seeds. Eighteen spp. of fungi belonging to ten genera were identified as fungi associated with diseased sprouted seeds. Out of these genera, Aspergillus spp. occurred most frequently and in relative abundance at 25.9%, Trichoderma spp. (23.4%), Ceratocystis paradoxa (11.1%), Fusarium spp (9.9%), Penicillium spp. (8.7%), Rhizopus sp. (7.4%) and Curvularia sp. (4.9%) respectively. Pest...
ABSTRACT Bio-fuels are fuels derived from biological materials or their by-products such as agricultural waste. A study was carried out to assess the production of bio-fuel (bioethanol) from some hydrolyzed agricultural wastes using yeast species isolated from Cola acuminata, Ipomoea batatas, Manihot esculenta, Pennisetum glaucum, Sorghum bicolor, Solanum tuberosum, Zea mays and palmwine (from Elaeis guineensis). Eight yeast species including Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis strain A, Cand...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is one of the most popular vegetables in the world.Tomato and its products are rich in antioxidants and vitamins C, E and carotenoids. The world consumption of tomato has increased significantly. Despite its importance, its production is below full potential due to the effect of pests and diseases such as bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most devastating, and wide-spread bacterial diseases of crops in...
ABSTRACT Sapindaceae Jussieu is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. They exist as trees and shrubs, and tendril-bearing vines with about 140-150 genera and 1400-2000 species worldwide. Sapindaceae is economically, medicinally and aesthetically useful. This aims of this research are to carry out systematic study on African Sapindaceae and generate DNA barcodes for each species with a view to sharing the DNA barcode sequence in a public database. The taxonomy of the family wa...
ABSTRACT Finger millet (Eleusinecoracana (L.) Gaertn) is one of the most important crops among the small millets. In Kenya yields are generally low, because of blast caused by the fungus Pyricularia grisea. Low finger-millet production accelerates incidences of malnutrition. Management has been challenging with cultural approach showing minimal success. Comparatively the use of actinomycetes species as a bio-control agent in management of rice blast caused by a similar pathogen, has shown so...
ABSTRACT Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) is one of the most neglected and under-utilized African legume with the potential to alleviate food insecurity and poverty in the tropical semi-arid regions of Africa. The crop is reported to be drought tolerant and produce reasonable yields in poor soils. However key morphological and physiological attributes that confer drought tolerance to different landraces is not well established. The main objective of this study was to assess t...
ABSTRACT Sugarcane smut disease caused by a fungus Sporisorium scitamineum is a limiting factor to cane production in Kenya. It is threatening the sugar industry due to its effect on cane quality and yields. Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is known to have microbial organisms associated with its rhizosphere with potential antagonistic activity against the fungus, however numerous studies on rhizosphere microbial diversity and their antagonistic activity against fungal plant pathogens hav...
ABSTRACT The socioeconomic burden of pollen and fungi spores allergy are very high in terms of hospitalization, treatment, lethargy, poor concentration and behavioral changes which impact negatively on adults and children. The study of atmospheric pollen and fungal spores in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria was carried out from June 2011 to May 2012. The aims of the study are to determine the seasonal prevalence of atmospheric pollen and fungal spores, examine the impacts of weather par...
ABSTRACT The potential of alkaloids from Panicum maximum floret infected with the fungus Tilletia ayresii in the control of uterine contraction in Sprague-Dawley rats was investigated using bioassay guided fractionation technique. Disease incidence study revealed that smut disease was significantly higher in Ikorodu site (95.00%) when compared with Akoka site (69.00%) and Isolo site (72.00%). The height of disease incidence was between the months of August and November. Thirteen species of f...
ABSTRACT Palynological analyses were carried out on four wells, Bentu-DX, Eze-DX, Meren-66 and Meren-67 from the Western Niger Delta. The palynomorphs recovered were abundant and diverse in the horizons studied. The Bentu-DX and Eze-DX wells are of Late Miocene (P860) – Late Pleistocene (P900) age (ca. 5.8Ma -1.3Ma). The assemblages are dominated by land derived palynomorphs particularly Monoporites annulatus, the mangrove pollen Zonocostites ramonae, Podocarpus milanjianus, Stereisporites ...
ABSTRACT Euphorbia L. is a genus of the family Euphorbiaceae. Some of the species are culturally, economically and medicinally valuable. The taxonomy of the genus was re-evaluated using classical and experimental approaches to unravel the complex inter-relationships and problems of identification existing within the genus. Herbarium studies, natural population sampling, ecological observation, experimental cultivation, morphological and anatomical characterization were some of the study appr...