Amylases are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds present in starch to release simple sugars. They are one of the most important enzymes in numerous commercial processes. In this investigation, fungal and bacterial strains from the following agro-industrial wastes were isolated and screened for amylolytic ability: soil from oil palm plantation, shea seed, date fruit, coconut meat, cassava effluent, cassava peel, cassava tubers, yam and potato tubers, starch medium, parboiled water from noodles and rice. The results revealed the presence of Geotrichum, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Rhizopus and Fusarium spp. Five major genera of bacterial species namely Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, Micrococcus and Bacillus were isolated and screened for amylase activity. Cassava soil had the highest heterotrophic bacterial count of 5.7 x105cfu/g and coconut meat waste had the lowest heterotrophic bacterial count of 1.3 x105cfu/g. All isolated microorganisms had the amylolytic ability. The fungal isolates had higher amylase activity when compared with the bacterial isolates. This investigation reveals organisms with high amylase activity.

Low quality of shea butter has continued to be a major challenge in the shea tree value chain. The quality and identity characteristics of market-ready shea butter produced by family-based processors, the highest contributors to the butter output in Nigeria were studied using standard methods of analysis for two consecutive fruiting years to ascertain the consistency in quality status. This was with the view to determining the suitable market segment the butter could serve. The result generally show significant inconsistencies in both quality and identity parameters within and among the villages and zones studied for the two years. The free fatty acid (ffa), acid value, peroxide value, anisidine value, iodine value, moisture, dirt unsaponifiable matter, saponification value ranged from 5.40±0.14 to 13.45±0.

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Numerous metal ions and chemical compounds can influence the activity of some fungi. Some have inhibitory effects whereas others have enhancing effects. In this study, the effect of metallic chlorides; lead II chloride (PbCl2), potassium chloride (KCl), copper II chloride (CuCl2), calcium II chloride (CaCl2), manganese II chloride (MnCl2), iron III chloride (FeCl3) and mercury II chloride (HgCl2) were evaluated for their influence on the cellulolytic activity of seven (7) fungal isolates at a concentration of 0.005M at 30°C for four (4) days using 3, 5-dinitrosalicyclic acid (DNS) method. CaCl2 had the highest influence on the cellulolytic activity for all the fungal isolates as compared to the control. In the presence of CaCl2, Trichoderma species (C) showed a high cellulolytic activity of 2.28x10-5 mmol/min/ml, Rhizopus, Trichoderma and Aspergillus species (A, B and E) had activities of 1.72 x10-5 ,1.65 x10-5 and 1.68 x10-5 mmol/min/ml respectively. HgCl2 and CuCl2 had the least influenced on the cellulolytic activity of all the fungal isolates. This, therefore, suggests that calcium ion activates the cellulase activity of the fungal species while HgCl2, PbCl2, KCl, CuCl2, MnCl2 and FeCl3 had a retarding effect on the cellulolytic activity.