ABSTRACT In a comprehensive study to assess the effects of botanicals and biocontrol agents on growth and aflatoxin (AF) production by Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) infecting maize, a total of 1143 maize samples, collected in eighteen batches of five maize varieties (yellow, white, pop, variegated and mixed) from northern and southern parts of Nigeria were investigated between June 2011 to December 2013. Samples collected from field, 414 (36.2%) and stored batches, 729 (63.8%) were cultured...
Abstract: The inoculation methods, the fungal strains, and several other factors are known to influent the success of fungal entomopathogens colonization in plants. The physiological status of the plant could also be another determinant. In the present study, the ability of three strains of Beauveria bassiana and one strain of Metarhizium anisopliae to successfully colonize Citrus limon plants and the influence of seedling age on endophytic colonization success was examined. Three, 4, and 6 ...
Abstract: Microorganisms and their natural products are potentially important for the biological control of crop diseases without detrimental effects to the environment. In this study, acetonitrile-methanol extracts of 361 actinobacterial isolates obtained from Aberdares, Arabuko Sokoke, Lake Bogoria, Mt Kenya,Kakamega, Ruma, Shimba Hills and Imenti forest national parks in Kenya were screened for antagonism against Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium spp and Colletotrichum kahawae, which are impor...
Abstract This study investigated the microorganisms associated with the spoilage of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) obtained from two markets in Jahun town, Jahun Local Government in Jigawa State, Nigeria. A total of five species of bacteria were isolated and identified viz: Bacillus subtilis, B.aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. The most prevalent bacterial isolate was Bacillus subtilis with 24% and was found in all samples from the two markets. Klebsi...
ABSTRACT Aflatoxin contamination of maize in Africa poses a major threat to food security and the health of many African people. In Kenya, aflatoxin contamination of maize is high due to the environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors. Many studies have been conducted to understand the scope of the problem especially at pre-harvest level, but few of them have been concentrated to the post-harvest level. This research was carried out to gather scientific information on the fungi pop...
ABSTRACT Fish farming enterprise has increased in recent times due to public demand for fish protein. However, rising costs of fish feed ingredients have greatly reduced the profit margin of local fish farmers. Cheap, readily available and locally sourced ingredients may be better substitutes to the costly fish feeds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of fermented Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) and Rice Bran (RB) as substitutes in the diet of Clarias gariepinus. Fungi were isolate...
ABSTRACT Hawked foods are cheap and easily accessible and have met the food needs of people in many cities and towns of developing countries. This study was aimed at ascertaining the diversity of microbial contaminants in foods hawked in Nsukka town. Seven different food samples of cooked foods hawked in Nsukka were examined for the presence of bacterial and fungal contaminants using the streak plate method on sterile nutrient agar plates and SDA plates respectively. The foods included; pige...
ABSTRACT Microbial contamination in laboratories and hospitals is becoming serious problem worldwide and characterization of such contaminants offer hope for treating some hospital and laboratory acquired infections (LAI). Microbial contaminants on benches, floors, media and in equipment can be influenced by temperature, humidity, nutrient media used in the laboratories as well as storage conditions of the media. Therefore there is need to determine the microbial sources, isolate and identify...
Abstract: Due to the rapid development of tick resistance to synthetic chemical acaricides and the potential risk posed by these chemicals to non-target species, efforts are intensifying towards the development of entomopathogenic fungi as an environmentally benign alternative tick control strategy. The main objective of this study is the development of formulations and delivery systems for control of ticks with entomopathogenic fungi. Screening of entomopathogenic fungal isolates is the fir...
ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance has become a wide spread problem. The efficacy of two solvent extracts of Cymbopogon citratus against some test bacteria and fungi was evaluated. The test bacteria was; Staphylococcus aureus, and the test fungi was; Candida albicans. The phytochemical properties and the antimicrobial potency of Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass) against selected microbial pathogens using chloroform and methanol as extracting solvents were assessed. The minimum inhibitory, bacteri...
ABSRACT Eight cellulolytic microfungi were isolated from wood-wastes obtained from Okobaba sawmills, Ebute-Metta, Lagos. The microfungi include two pathogenic fungi, Aspergillus Aavus and Aspergillus fumigatus, and three different strains of the black aspergilli, Aspergillus niger, (designated herein as A. niger 1, A. niger 2 and A. niger 3). The other isolates are Fusarium solani, Penicillium chrysogenum, and Trichoderma harzianum. The filamentous fungi, A. nigeri, P. chrysogenum and T. har...
ABSTRACT Waste generated by several agricultural activities has many alternative uses. Unfortunately, much of it is burnt in the open fields, resulting in environmental pollution. In view of the economic and ecological importance of agro wastes, microfungi were isolated from decaying agro wastes samples and screened for pectinolytic activity using a plate assay method containing pectin alone. The effects of carbon, nitrogenous sources and pH on pectinase production by the strains with maximum...
ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance has become one of the major problems facing humanity. The need for new antimicrobials has been increased dramatically. Plants are considered as a major sources of new antibiotics due to the presence of phytochemicals. In Nigeria and other developing countries medicine plant materials have been used to treat various diseases since ancient times. The goal of our research is to evaluate the phytochemical and antimicrobial efficiency of Ficus sycamorus leaf extracts...
Abstract: Grain legumes are among the key economical crops widely grown in western and eastern Africa as important sources of food and animal fodder. However, the production of grain legumes in Kenya is seriously affected by a complex of insect pests particularly thrips. Yield losses of 20 to 100% have often been reported in some areas. The bean flower thrips (BFT), Megalurothrips sjostedti is considered to be the most important thrips pest of grain legumes. Chemical control is still the mai...
Abstract: Endophytes demonstrate great potential sources for new bio active compounds. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess biological activities including antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials of endophytic fungal extracts from coriander leaves and seeds. The samples were surface sterilized before used as endophytic fungal culture. The result of macroscopic and microscopic characterization of the fungal isolates demonstrated the presence of three genera of endophytic fun...