ABSTRACT Mosquitoes transmit serious human diseases, resulting into millions of deaths globally every year. The use of synthetic insecticides to control vector mosquitoes has caused physiological resistance and adverse environmental effects in addition to high operational costs. Mosquito larvicidal compounds from certain plant and fungal species have been reported. Basidiomycetes fungi are known to synthesize a wide range of bioactive secondary metabolites. The objective of this work was to ...
Fungal dermatological conditions are caused by a group of fungi called dermatophytes. They cause infections in almost all parts of the body. The most common cause of skin infections are dermatophytes and opportunistic fungi. Dermatophytoes are not life threatening but they affect the quality of life of the patients as they can cause depression, lack of self confidence and isolation incase of deep lesions. In Kenya the prevalence and distribution of the infections as well as the common dermato...
Abstract: Laccase (EC 1.10.3.2, benzenediol oxygen, oxidoreductases) is typically extracellular monomeric glycoproteins that belong to the multicopper oxidase family. Laccase is widely distributed in higher plants, bacteria, fungi, and insects. Laccase play an important role in different industrial sectors, soil bioremediation and biodegradation of environmental phenolic pollutant and removal of endocrine disruptors. Laccase has been efficiently applied to nanobiotechnology due to their abil...
ABSTRACT Surveys were conducted to identify the natural enemies of the oil palm leafminer, Coelaenomenodera lameensis Berti and Mariau (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Different developmental stages were recovered from infested leaflets and reared for the emergence of parasitoids. Four parasitoids all belonging to the order Hymenoptera and family Eulophidae were identified. They were Neochrysocharis species, Chrysocharis species, Pleurotroppopsis species and Apleurotropis species. Parasitism on C...
Mushroom is a macro-fungus with a unique fruiting body, that can be easily seen with the naked eye and large enough to be picked by hand, which can be either epigeous or hypogenous (Chang and Miles, 2004) Macrofungi are lower plants that lack flowers and fruits of the higher orders (Adejumo and Awosanya, 2005; Ayodele and Akpaja, 2007). There are two major groups of macrofungi which are toadstools and mushrooms. Mushrooms locally known as ‘olu’ in the Southwestern Nigeria are a grou...
Abstract A SSU rRNA gene clone library was constructed to establish the diversity of eukaryotic plankton in the African soda lake Nakuru during a phase of low salinity (9.7 ppt = hyposaline). Normally, the lake is mesosaline (up to 50 ppt) and its phytoplankton is dominated by few species of cyanobacteria, in particular Arthrospira fusiformis, which is the main food resource of Lesser Flamingos. Our study recovered a unique phytoplankton species composition characterized by a high diversity ...
Abstract: Bioactive natural compounds isolated from fungal endophytes have been playing a promising role in the search for novel drugs and becoming an inspiring source for researchers due to their enormous structure diversity and complexity. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of endophytic fungi from garlic bulbs and leek leaves. The study involved garlic (Allium sativum) bulb and leek (Alllium Ampeloprasum var. porrum) leaf samples...
ABSTRACT The mycoflora of two recently-developed maize (Zea mays L) varieties Abeleehi and Obaatanpa have been studied under varying ambient equilibrium relative humidities E R H ’s (55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95%) representative of the Ghanaian ambient conditions. The potential pathogenicity of selected contaminating fungal species (A. alutaceus, = A. ochraceus, Fusarium, moniliforme, Penicillium digitatum, Peacilomyces carneus, P. puntoni and P. varioti) was also tested under labo...
Abstract In this research laser used to irradiant milk and its effect on the pH and absorbance has been studied in this research. Six samples of cow's milk were taken from the farm directly, without any additions of preservatives. five samples from six samples were irradiated by Nd:YAG laser 1064 nm wavelength using different output powers (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50) mW and the sixth sample was left without irradiation as a control, the result shows that by increasing laser dose the absorbance b...
Abstract: Anopheles mosquitoes are colonized by diverse microorganisms that may impact on host biology and vectorial capacity. Eukaryotic symbionts such as fungi have been isolated from Anopheles, but whether they are stably associated with mosquitoes and transmitted transstadially across mosquito life stages or to subsequent generations remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that a Leptosphaerulina sp. fungus isolated from the midgut of An.gambiae can be stably associated with An. gambia...
ABSTRACT This project work which is all about the fungal infestation of bakery product BREAD, explain the kind or type of fungal organisms that are responsible for the spoilage on contamination of bread. The infestation of fungal organism on bread depends on the kind and number of the agent present and upon the environment about them. this statement makes it clear that micro organism infest foods having suitable environment condition for their microbial activity. This project work is cente...
INTRODUCTION Toxins are poisonous substances produced within living cells or organisms and can include various classes of small molecules or proteins that cause disease on contact. The severity and type of diseases caused by toxins can range from minor effects to deadly effects. The organisms which are capable of producing toxins include bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants. Some of the major types of toxins include, but are not limited to, environmental, marine, and microbial toxins. Microbi...
Soil acidity is widespread globally, accounting for about 40% of total arable soils. In Kenya, acid soils cover about 13% of total land area and are distributed widely in the croplands of central and western Kenya regions, covering over one million hectares. The main limitation of crop productivity in Kavutiri, Embu, is soil acidity and more specifically aluminium toxicity. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of agricultural lime in combination with farmyard manure (FYM)...
ABSTRACT Groundnut samples collected from commercial markets in South–Eastern Nigerian were examined for seed borne fungi organisms and their level of losses were quantified. Results obtained showed that only about 29% of groundnut seeds were without damage. This high rate of damage is a major factor in low viability of groundnut seeds in South – Eastern Nigeria. From the survey of groundnut seed cultivars, two cultivars: Spanish 205 (nwaerente) and Samnut 21 (Ngwongworo) were observe...
ABSTRACT Preservatives in foods are designed to prevent bacteria growth and spoilage, but sometimes they can also prevent you from enjoying good health. While the effects of food preservatives on the body can vary with age and health status, looking into the potential harmful effects of preservatives in foods may help you reclaim good health and protect your personal well-being against toxic damage. Food preservatives are meant to improve food safety and that is why laws authorized their us...