June 2014
Effect of beta-mannanase treatment on nutritive quality of palm kernel meal
The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritive quality of β-mannanase treated palm kernel meal (PKM). Beta-mannanase production was conducted using locust bean gum (LBG) as the sole carbon source; moisten with mineral salt solution, and enzyme activity determined by dinitrosalicylic acid. Crude β-mannanase was concentrated by ammonium sulphate. The chemical composition of enzyme treated PKM was determined...
June 2014
Evaluation of Francis media for extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) screening
Francis media was developed for the differential screening of Burkholderia pseudomallei. It was later found to have additional function of selecting extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) from Enterobacteriaceae. A total of 305 Enterobacteriaceae isolates from clinical specimens (Klebsiella spp. [191], Escherichia coli [96], Enterobacter spp. [9], Citrobacter spp. [3] and others [6]) were tested for the presence of...
June 2014
Hyphomycetous fungi spore release induced by air currents and aqueous solution
Hyphomycetous fungi originating from South Africa were morphologically characterised and ascribed to the genera Acremonium, Aspergillus and Penicillium, respectively. The primary means of spore dispersal employed by these isolates was investigated by quantifying colony forming units released into the air and into an aqueous solution. Measurement of spore liberation during humid aeration, revealed significant (P <...
June 2014
Evaluation of efficacy of some botanicals and bioagents against stalk and ear rot pathogen of maize, Fusarium verticillioides
The efficacy of some botanicals and bio-agents were assessed in vitro as the potential biofungicides against Fusarium verticillioides, the causal organism of stalk rot disease of maize plant. The botanicals used in this study were Morinda lucida (Oruwo) and Tithonia diversifolia (Mexican Sunflower) and the bio-agents used were Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma pseudokoningii and Bacillius subtilis....
June 2014
Optimizing fermentation conditions for fructosyltransferase enzyme production by Lactobacillus plantarum
Enzymatic production of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) from sucrose using β-D fructosyltransferase is commonly employed in commercial scale. FOS are low calorie sweetners with prebiotic property widely used as functional food material. In the present study, a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum (LABF 16) was found to produce bioactive oligosugars such as kestose and nystose exhibiting fructosyltransferase (FTase)...
June 2014
Growth enhancement in vegetable crops by multifunctional resident plant growth promoting rhizobacteria under tropical Island Ecosystem
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria have been used to improve crop production. A total of 114 bacterial isolates were recovered from the rhizosphere soils of healthy plantation and vegetable crops grown in Andaman Islands. These isolates were evaluated in vitro for plant growth promoting traits, hydrolytic enzyme production and antagonistic activity. Among the isolates, NPB6 and MNB1 were positive to 8 out of 10...
June 2014
Preliminary investigation on anthelmintic activity and phytochemical screening of leaf crude extracts of Tithonia diversifolia and Tephrosia vogelii
This investigation lies within the framework of studying the phytochemistry of two medicinal plants Tithonia diversifolia and Tephrosia vogelii and assessing their potentials in controlling the helminthiasis in goats. The crude extracts were obtained from the leaves by Soxhlet methodology and phytochemical screening, fecal eggs reduction and the anthelmintic activities were tested in various laboratories in Butare. The...
June 2014
Antimicrobial activity of Anacardium occidentale L. leaves and barks extracts on pathogenic bacteria
The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of aqueous, ethanol, ethyl acetate and dichloromethane extracts of two different cashew tree parts (leaf and bark). The susceptibility of strains to the different extracts was evaluated in vitro by disc diffusion method on ten reference strains and nine foods strains. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations...
June 2014
Microwave mutagenesis of high-producing rennet strain from Bacillus subtilis
In order to acquire a high-producing rennet strain from Bacillus, different microwave irradiation intensities and durations were tested. The effect of microwave irradiation power and time were studied and the microwave mutagenesis parameters were optimized. The results indicated that the best conditions for microwave mutagenesis that produced better performed mutant strains were 450 W, 4 min. Under these conditions a...
June 2014
Low cost medium for recombinant endoglucanase II production by Pichia pastoris
The suitability of crude glycerol (75% (v/v) glycerol content) from a biodiesel production plant, and soybean meal and rice bran hydrolysates as replacements in the culture medium for commercially available glycerol, peptone and yeast extract, respectively, to form a low cost culture medium for the growth of, and recombinant endoglucanase II production by, Pichia pastoris was evaluated. The use of 1% (v/v) crude...
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