http://196.220.128.81:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/234 2026-08-12T13:12:31Z http://196.220.128.81:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3450 BIOACTIVITY OF THREE SELECTED BOTANICALS AGAINST Dermestes maculatus DEGEER AND MICROORGANISMS IN SMOKED CATFISH, Clarias gariepinus BURCHELL. FABUNMI, GOODNESS OSEHOTUE Fish, a major source of protein is mainly preserved by smoking in many developing countries. However, insect pests and micro-organisms constitute economic and health challenges to fish farmers and consumers. Three medicinal plant materials from Zingiber officinale rhizome, Allium sativum bulb and Moringa oleifera seed were evaluated for progeny inhibition in fish beetle, Dermestes maculatus, and incidence of bacteria and fungi in smoke-dried Clarias gariepinus. Cleaned C. gariepinus were separately soaked in extracts of the plants (50g/1000ml) for 60mins before smoke-drying in a mud kiln at 105ºC. Proximate analyses and sensory evaluation were conducted on un-infested fishes in lot A while fishes in lot B were artificially infested with 5 pairs of newly emerged adult D. maculatus for 10 days. Number of emerged larvae, pupae, adult insects and incidence of micro-organisms before and following 90 days in storage after infestation were used as indices of potency of the extracts. Results obtained showed that all the treated un-infested smoked-dried C. gariepinus retained high scores for taste, texture, aroma and appearance within the first five weeks of storage after smoking when compared with the control. This implied that the tested extracts had no negative effect in terms of sensory attributes on the treated fish during storage and can therefore be used for fish preservation. Larvae emerged in untreated fish much earlier (2 days) after artificial infestation than an average of 8 days in extract-treated fish. Mean numbers of developmental stages of D. maculatus were highest in untreated fish having 36.00±2.00 larvae, 21.00±0.58 pupae and 40.00±1.73 adults. Fish treated with extract of A. sativum had significantly (p < 0.05) lowest value of 17.67±1.45, 12.00±0.58 and 21.00±1.53 for larvae, pupae and adult respectively. The extracts reduced the type and load of fungi and bacteria in treated fish compared with the control. Untreated fish had higher moisture content and crude fat, and lower ash, crude fibre and crude protein contents. Meanwhile, A. sativum among all the selected extracts had the least number of larvae (17.67±1.45), adult (21.00±1.53), fungi (9.00x10²±0.53sfu/ml) and bacteria counts (11.33x10²±0.33cfu/ml) following 90 days in storage after infestation. Therefore, A. sativum proved to be most effective among the tested extracts followed by Z. officinale and M. oleifera, hence it could be recommended for control of D. maculatus and microorganisms in smoked C. gariepinus. The plant extracts could play a major role in inhibiting insect feeding and development, incidence and growth of micro-organisms thus extending the shelf-life of smoked fish. Most importantly it will reduce occurrence of food infestation and infection thereby enhancing consumer safety. M. TECH 2018-07-01T00:00:00Z http://196.220.128.81:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3449 COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF BOTANICAL POWDERS, DIATOMACEOUS EARTH, PIRIMIPHOS METHYL, RICE HUSK (POWDER AND ASH) AGAINST TWO STORAGE BEETLES BABALOLA, ABIODUN IBUKUN This study was carried out to investigate the comparative toxicity of seeds of Piper guineense Schum & Thonn, Capsicum annum L, Diatomaceous Earth, pirimiphos-methyl dust and rice husk (powder and ash) againstCallosobruchus maculatus (F.) and Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch) in stored cowpea and maize grains respectively. Toxicity test was carried out by exposing five pairs (male and female) each of freshly emerged insects to each of the substrate materials at the rates of 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 g/20 grammes of grains. The experiment conducted at ambient temperature of 28 ± 2oC and relative humidity of 75±5% was replicated three times and arranged in a completely randomized design. Adult mortality was observed for four days. The following phytochemicals were observed in the materials: alkaloids, saponins, tannin, flavonoid and glycosides. Proximate analysis showed the presence of crude protein, fat content, crude fibre, moisture content and ash content. Results of the toxicity assay revealed that rice husk ash was the most toxic to adult C. maculatus and S. zeamais with 100% mortality (p≤0.05) within 72 hours of exposure at a concentration of 0.1g/20grammes grains. Pirimiphos-methyl gave a significantly high mortality of 76.67% and 90.00% at a concentration of 0.2 g/20 g of grains respectively in both cowpea and maize after 72 hours of application. The least efficacy was observed with rice husk powder evoking 3.33% and 33.33% at a dosage of 0.3g/20 grammes respectively in both cowpea and maize. The treated grains significantly reduced the oviposition and adult emergence of C. maculatus and were significantly different from the control across the different dosages. Oviposition and adult emergence were lowest in rice husk ash with 8 eggs and 24.62% adult emergence in C. maculatus, at 0.5g/20g dosage.The percentage adult emergence in the untreated grains was significantly different (higher) (p<0.05) from the emergence in the treated cowpea grains across the dosages. At all levels of dosages, the powders significantly reduced the weight loss, damage and weevil perforation index caused by the beetle. Rice husk ash at 0.5g dosage recorded the lowest weight loss, grain damage and weevil perforation index of 0.40%, 1.95% and 5.80 % respectively.Rice husk ash was able to inhibit completely the emergence of adult S. zeamais at 0.1g dosage within 24 hours post treatment as well as reduce weight loss, in Sitophilus zeamais. The inhibition rate in Pirimiphos methyl (90.42%) was comparable with those of P. guineense (90.78% ) and diatomaceous earth (82.34%) at 0.1g dosage. Weight loss of 19.90% was highest in the control while there was no weight loss in the treated grains with rice husk ash for S. zeamais. The findings from this research showed that rice husk ash was most potent/toxic to the storage beetles, C. maculatus and S. zeamais. M. TECH 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z http://196.220.128.81:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3373 THE CONTRIBUTORY ROLE OF FOMITES IN THE TRANSMISSION OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS AT THE STATE SPECIALIST HOSPITAL, AKURE OLISE, Christian Chukwu Nosocomial infections are infections contracted during the cause of hospital treatments, which are secondary to the patients’ original condition. Prevalence of nosocomial infections within a period of 12 months was investigated in five wards of the State Specialist Hospital, Akure, using patients’ medical files and diagnosis index. Male surgical ward, Female surgical ward, Children ward, Intensive Care Unit and Accident and Emergency ward were sampled for the prevalence of nosocomial infections. Surfaces of nine fomites were swabbed; drip stands, door knobs, fan switches, bed rails, bed linens, pillow cases, light-plug-ins, and sink knobs for microbial contamination. Microbes isolated from the 225 swabs samples were identified using standard microbiological methods. An overall prevalence of 11.9% nosocomial infections was recorded across the sampled wards. Intensive Care Unit (37.5%) and Children ward (7.6%) recorded the highest and lowest prevalence respectively. Prevalence of nosocomial infections in the sampled wards was not significantly different at (P>0.05). Gram positive bacteria (6) were more frequently isolated than Gram negative bacteria (5). Staphylococcus aureus (23.08%) was the most predominant, while Proteus mirabilis (4.81%) was the least isolated. Overall occurrences of bacteria isolates in the sampled wards were not significantly different at (Pvalue >0.05). The highest occurring fungus was Aspergillus niger. (43.8%). Correlation was positive between infections rate and microbial contamination of fomites surfaces across the sampled wards. The door knobs (22.76%) recorded highest microbial contamination; while light-plug-ins (4.88%) and pillow case (4.88%) were the least contaminated fomites. The highest bacterial colony count of 9.6×106 cfu/ml which is higher than the infectious dose of 106cfu/ml was recorded on the door knob of Female Surgical ward while pillow case shows insignificant count across most wards. Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Proteus mirabilis 4 demonstrated multiple resistant to most of the antibiotics. All Gram positive isolate shows 100% resistance to Ampiclox and Zannicef. 50% of the Staphylococcus aureus isolated were found to be resistant to Methicillin. The Female surgical wards recorded the highest number of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains 4 (16.7%). In conclusion, the isolation of microorganism from fomites surfaces in this research work shows that fomites serve as route of transmission of infections within healthcare facilities as they provide anchorage for multi-drug resistant microorganisms borne by patients and staff. M. TECH 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z http://196.220.128.81:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/3372 EFFECT OF FUEL EMISSIONS ON TOMATO FRUITS (Solanum lycopersicum) AND TWO OF ITS FUNGAL PATHOGENS BALOGUN, KAYODE PETER The quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) produced by generators and motor vehicles which are the major sources of air pollution have increased with increase in the use of generators and vehicles. The component gases analysed for this study were CO, CO2, HC and O2. Due to their hazardous effect on living things such as plants and animals in the environment, it will be important that more attention be paid to these gaseous pollutants. Healthy, mature and unblemished completely ripe tomato fruits were used for the pathological test while those that were 30−60% ripe (pink) were used for the physiological tests of the effects of these pollutants on plant materials. The fruits were washed, and surface disinfected before use. Results of physiological test show that gasoline fuel emission delayed ripening of fruits as exposure time increased. In vitro tests showed that gasoline fuel emission treatment was most effective in preventing the spore germination of Rhizopus stolonifer and effectively inhibited germ tube elongation in the same fungus while gasoline fuel emission had little effect on the spore germination and germ tube elongation of Fusarium oxysporum. The completely ripe fruits inoculated with R. stolonifer and F. oxysporum separately before treatment with gasoline fuel emission and storage at 28oC and saturated relative humidity showed a decrease in rot severity caused by Rhizopus stolonifer as exposure to the gasoline fuel emission increased. Unwounded fruits inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum showed promotion of growth of the organism with exposure to emission while result on wounded tomato fruits showed that gasoline emission had little effect on the organism. This study has shown that gasoline fuel emission treatment has effect on the two tomato pathogens and postharvest rot development. Emission also had effect on further ripening of partially ripe tomato fruits. M. TECH 2018-07-01T00:00:00Z