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T HE PRESENT study is aimed to evaluate the antibacterial effect of four types of Indian and Yemeni honey at 80% and 50% w/v concentrations against different pathogens including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Agar well diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were used in this evaluation. All the examined honey samples recorded antibacterial activity in a dose-dependent manner. Yemeni honey were more efficient than Indian honey in producing the inhibitory growth impact. The average MICs values of Sider Daowaney and Somer honey from Yemen, Punjabi and Kashmiri honey from India against all tested bacteria were 15%, 20%, 30% and 30% (v/v), respectively. Tested honey samples had significant results (P< 0.05) against different tested pathogens, the difference in antibacterial activity attributes to Physico-chemical properties, total phenols contents, geographic area as well as botanical resource. The findings reveal that Indian and Yemeni honey may potentially be used as antibacterial agents, where there is a promising future to use these types of honey in many medical applications against multidrug-resistant and foodborne bacteria.

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Background The present study was focused to study the efficiency of two indigenous litter dwelling ligninolytic fungi (such as Mucor circinelloides GL1 and Fusarium verticillioides GL5) in degrading the agricultural wastes (areca husk, coffee husk and paddy straw) through solid-state fermentation. Results After fermentation process, the lignocellulosic residues left over were evaluated for their physico-chemical studies and degradation pattern of cell wall constituents along with the activity of enzymes. In each substrate, the initial pH was found to change from near-neutral to acidic pH after fungal decomposition. Significantly increased loss of total organic matter and organic carbon content was observed in each substrate decomposed by the fungal strains selected. The total nitrogen, crude protein, total phosphorus and total potassium contents of the fungal decomposed substrates were significantly increased with the progress of time. The study indicated that the degradation patterns of lignin and holocellulose were more effective from 20 to 120 days after fungal inoculation with respect to their loss between the different harvesting intervals. During decomposition process, both the strains produced the ligninolytic enzymes [laccase, manganese peroxidase (MnP) and lignin peroxidase (LiP)] and carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) on each substrate with their remarkably varied activities with respect to different harvesting times. Conclusions In concern with the present environmental problems, the present study suggested that these potential ligninolytic fungi can be utilized successfully for the management of agricultural wastes and reuse of their residues in the forest soil conservation system to eliminate the harmful effects of the crop residue burning.