No abstract

Tapinanthus bangwensis (Mistletoe) is a parasitic plant grown on citrus plant and a variety of other plants, used by most communities in Nigeria for the treatment and management of ailments such as diabetics, blood pressure, asthma, epilepsy, cancer of the ovary and breast and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The study was aimed at investigating the antibacterial properties and the phytochemical constituents of the leaves extract. Crude extract of Tapinanthus bangwensis leaves were screened for its antibacterial and phytochemical properties on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumonia. The results showed that the extract at varying concentrations has antibacterial activity on the test organisms. The extract inhibited the growth of the bacterial isolates in a concentration dependent manner with MICs (minimum inhibitory concentration) ranging from 10-50mg/ml. Partial purification (Thin Layer Chromatography) of the crude extract revealed five (5) components. Characteristics of these components were viewed by Infrared and UV/VIS spectrophotometer showing the presence of alkaloid, saponin, tannin, steroid and flavonoid. The observed antibacterial activity was believed to be due to the presence of the phytochemical constituents.

ABSTRACT:The indiscriminate discharge of Cassava mill effluent pose serious environmental and public health implications. This work was aimed at assessing the biodegradation potentials of indigenous microbial isolates from cassava mill effluent using screening and shake flask degradation tests. The mean heterotrophic bacterial and fungal counts were 3.4±0.26 x 10 6 cfu/ml and 1.1±0.20 x 10 6 cfu/ml respectively. The microorganisms isolated, characterized and identified include the genus Pseudomonas (15.48%), Bacillus (12.41%), Acetobacter and Rhizopus (10.88%), Corynebacterium (9.33%), Lactobacillus, Micrococcus and Aspergillus (7.79%), Staphylococcus and Penicillium (6.25%) and Saccharomyces species (4.62%). The pH (5.39 ± 0.14), electrical conductivity (2506.

Methanolic extract of the leaves of Ocimum gratissium (scent leaves) was screened for its phytochemical and antibacterial properties on some clinical bacterial isolates, visa vie as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The agar diffusion technique was used to assay the growth inhibition against the four bacterial isolates. The antibacterial effect of the methanolic extract of Ocimum gratissium was compared to that of some selected commercially available antibiotics. The inhibitory effect of the methanolic extract was comparable at all concentrations tested to the commercially available antibiotics indicating the high potency of the methanolic extract O. gratissium. Results obtained showed, the extract inhibits the growth of the test isolates with diameter of zones of inhibition of 5mm to 10mm for P. aeruginosa, P. mirabilis, E. coli and S. aureus respectively. The Broth microdilution assay gave minimal inhibitory concentration values ranging from 13.5μg/ml to 15.0μg/ml. The result of the phytochemical analysis of the dried leaves extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrate and saponins.

The effect of human activities and oil pollution on the microbiological quality of Udu River was investigated from September 2002 to January 2003. The microbiological parameters were carried out using the standard microbiological techniques. The bacterial and fungal loads were shown to be highest in the inhabited stations (2 and 3) with downstream (station 4) suffering from dilution effects of human activities and upstream (station 1) showing lower counts. Stations 2 and 3 were shown to record the highest heterotrophic microbial load 10.7 x 108 cfuml-1 and 10.4 x 108 cfuml-1 and 8.0 x 108 cfuml-1 and 9.0 x 108 cfuml-1 for bacterial and fungal isolates respectively. Total coliform counts ranges from 1.5 – 4.3 x 106 and 1.4 – 2.8 x 106 MPN100ml-1 for stations 2 and 3. Microorganism isolated and characterized includes nine bacterial and four fungal genera. The bacterial isolates were Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Proteus, Escherichia, Clostridium, Acetobacter, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, and the predominant fungal isolates includes, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Geotrichum and Helminthosporium. The concentrations of total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), conductivity, total iron, total solids, total copper and total dissolved solids were shown to be higher in stations 2 and 3 than station 1 which have no direct human activities. Similarly, the values obtained for salinity, total hardness and dissolved oxygen (DO) of the inhabited stations were shown to be lower than station 1. Correlation coefficient shows positive relationship between the different microbial populations and some physiochemical parameters studied.