African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12496

Table of Content: 1 March 2006; 5(5)

March 2006

Sorghum grain as human food in Africa: relevance of content of starch and amylase activities

Sorghum is a staple food grain in many semi-arid and tropic areas of the world, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa because of its good adaptation to hard environments and its good yield of production. Among important biochemical components for sorghum processing are levels of starch (amylose and amylopectin) and starch depolymerizing enzymes. Current research focus on identifying varieties meeting specific agricultural and...

Author(s): Mamoudou H. Dicko,, Harry Gruppen, Alfred S. Traoré, Alphons G. J. Voragen and Willem J. H. Van Berkel

March 2006

Biotechnology approaches to developing herbicide tolerance/selectivity in crops

The use of herbicides has revolutionized weed control in many crop production systems.  However, with the increasing development of weed resistances to many popular selective herbicides, the need has arisen to rethink the application of chemical weed control.  Approaches to maintain the efficiency of chemical weed control include the discovery of new herbicide target sites in plants and the discovery/...

Author(s): Richard M.S. Mulwa and Lydia M. Mwanza

March 2006

Microbially produced phytotoxins and plant disease management

Pathogenic fungi and bacteria often damage their host (plants) tissues by producing toxic metabolites, which induced various symptoms such as necrosis, chlorosis, wilting, water soaking and eventually the death of plants.  These toxic metabolites also known is one of the weapons used by pathogen inducing disease condition in susceptible host plants. Many pathogens are known to produce toxins both in...

Author(s): N. A. Amusa

March 2006

Ex Situ Conservation Method for Clerodendrum inerme: a medicinal plant of India

Clerodendrum inerme L. (Verbenaceae), commonly known as vanajai or garden quinine is a perennial shrub. Leaves and roots of the plant are used in rheumatism and skin diseases. In Indian classical literature the plant is also reported as a substitute of quinine. Since root of the plant is used as drug, whole plant has to be destroyed; this has resulted in the depletion of the plant population. Present investigation...

Author(s): Kothari Avani, Padh Harish and Shrivastava Neeta

March 2006

Field evaluation of selected formulations of Trichoderma species as seed treatment to control damping-off of cowpea caused by Macrophomina phaseolina

The experiment was carried out between 1997 and 1998 at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria to test the efficacy of biological seed treatment of cowpea against Macrophomina phaseolina infection in the field.Trichoderma sp., T. koningii Oudem (IMI 361600) and T. harzianum Rifai (IMI 361601) were selected from soil dilutions and tested in...

Author(s): A. T. Adekunle T. Ikotun , D.A. Florini and K.F. Cardwell

March 2006

Initiation and growth of shoots of Gongronema latifolia benth. stem cuttings in different rooting media

Vegetative propagation of Gongronema latifolia Benth commonly used as a forest leafy vegetable and spice, was studied in three rooting media (sawdust, ricehull and soil) under two seasons in Nsukka. The study showed that G. latifolia could be effectively propagated by stem cuttings. There was significant reduction in number of days to shoot initiation and growth in sawdust medium in the wet season....

Author(s): Agbo, C.U. and C.M. Omaliko

March 2006

Evaluation of forest policy in Nigeria: A case study of Edo state

The research was undertaken from 1997-2000 to investigate how forest policy has faired in meeting the set objectives in forestry contexts and development in study area. The result showed that deforestation and consolidation of forest reserves accounted for 73.64 and 3.10%, respectively. The result also revealed that there was significant difference in the participation of professional foresters and taskforce as well as...

Author(s): Kalu, C. and Izekor, D. N.

March 2006

Efficacy of certain fungicides against Phomopsis theae under in vitro conditions

Four contact fungicides, Blitox (copper oxychloride), Kocide (copper hydroxide), Mancozeb (dithane M-45) and Bordeaux mixture and four systemic fungicides, Baycor (bitertanol), Calixin (tridemorph), Contaf (hexaconazole) and Bavistin (carbendazim) were evaluated against Phomopsis theae under in vitro condition. The results indicated that carbendazim was found to be the most effective in suppressing the growth...

Author(s): P. Ponmurugan, U.I. Baby and C. Gopi

March 2006

Organogenesis induction in rice callus by cyanobacterial extracellular product

Cyanobacteria or blue green algae are prokaryotic photosynthetic microorganism that produces a wide array of substances, including plant growth regulators. In the case of growth regulators, gibberellin, auxin, cytokinin, ethylene, abscisic acid and jasmonic acid have been detected in cyanobacteria. Many substances have been added to plant tissue culture media in order to promote plant regeneration. The present research...

Author(s): A. Manickavelu, N. Nadarajan, S.K. Ganesh, R. Ramalingam and S. Raguraman and R.P. Gnanamalar

March 2006

Growth pattern and structural nature of amylases produced by some Bacillus species in starchy substrates

The growth pattern and microbial biomass formed during metabolic activities of theBacillus species on starchy substrates was determined. The result showed that the strains B. subtilis (WBS), B. licheniformis (WBL) and B. coagulans (MBC) generally had high growth rate. B. circulans (SBC) and B. coagulans (WBC) has specific affinity for growth and some enzymatic...

Author(s): Ajayi A.O and Fagade O.E

March 2006

Effect of leaf-packaging on the microbiological assessment of some food items

Microorganisms associated with leaves of Thaumatococcus daniellii (“ewe eran”),Musa paradisiaca (banana) and Tectona grandis (teak) and the food wrapped in the leaves were investigated. The bacterial isolates from both the leaves and food includeBacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Micrococcus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis,...

Author(s): ADEGUNLOYE, D.V., AGARRY, O.O., ADEBOLU, T.T. and ADETUYI, F.C.

March 2006

Effect of bacterial conditioning and the flotation of copper ore and concentrate

In this paper, the effect of bacterial conditioning on KBI Murgul (Turkey) copper concentrate was investigated by the use of Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans (DSM 11477). The various parameters such as bacterial population, conditioning time and particle size were studied. Test results indicated the copper grade increase of about 22% in flotation copper ore through bacterial conditioning of pyrite surfaces...

Author(s): A. Ekrem Yüce, H. Mustafa Tarkan, M. Zeki DoÄŸan

March 2006

Enhancement of recovery of residual oil using a biosurfactant slug

A laboratory investigation of the mobilization and displacement of residual oil in a sand-pack using biosurfactant slug was conducted. The biosurfactant employed was extracted from a culture of Pseudomonas sp. grown on kerosine- supplemented mineral salts medium. Characterization of the biosurfactant extract revealed a mixture of glycolipid and phospholipid in a ratio of 3.35:1.  The irreducible water...

Author(s): G. C. Okpokwasili AND A. A. Ibiene

March 2006

Nutritional studies with Lentinus squarrosulus (Mont.) Singer and Psathyrella atroumbonata Pegler: I. Animal assay

Lentinus squarrosulus and Psathyrella atroumbonata, two edible indigenous mushroom species, were dried, ground and used in nutritional studies. According to the results L. squarrosulus and P. atroumbonata had significantly lower protein efficiency ratio (PER) values than the standard casein diet but gave rise to net protein retention (NPR) values which were at par, but slightly higher than...

Author(s): NWANZE PI, KHAN AU, AMEH JB and UMOH VJ

March 2006

Characterization and treatment of sludge from the petroleum industry

Samples of sludge from the petroleum industry were collected and characterized for their pollution characteristics. The solids concentration, pH, temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrogen, conductivity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese, lead and chromium were determined.  The analysis revealed that the mean value of total solids (TS)...

Author(s): Asia, I. O., Enweani, I. B. and Eguavoen I. O.

March 2006

Factors affecting cellulase sorption in soil

The sorption of cellulase proteins of Trichoderma viride on calcareous soils was investigated, and the soil factors affecting cellulase sorption were also studied. The study on some arid, semiarid and humid soils of Isfahan, Hamadan and Gilan provinces of Iran revealed that the sorption of cellulase on the calcareous soils obey both the Freundlich and the Langmuir isotherms. The maximum binding levels of...

Author(s): Ali Akbar Safari Sinegani and Alireza Hosseinpour

March 2006

Nutrient effects on production of cellulolytic enzymes by Aspergillus niger

The production of cellulase (filter paper activity, endoglucanase and β-glucosidase) by Aspergillus niger on three media in liquid shake culture was compared. The culture filtrate of this organism exhibited relatively highest activity of all three enzymes and extracellular protein content at 7-day interval during the course of its growth on Czapek-Dox medium supplemented with 1.0% (w/v) cellulose. Urea as...

Author(s): Narasimha G, Sridevi A, Buddolla Viswanath, Subhosh Chandra M, Rajasekhar Reddy B

March 2006

Genetic and histopathology studies on mice: effect of fenugreek oil on the efficiency of ovarian and liver tissues

There is a growing interest in understanding the biological effect of medicinal plants. In the present investigation, the effects of fenugreek oil administration on the liver and ovarian activity genetically (i.e., meiotic progression in collected oocytes as well as changes in DNA and RNA content in the liver and ovarian tissues) and histopathologically (i.e., alterations in the liver and ovarian tissues) were examined...

Author(s): Aziza M. Hassan, Wagdy K. B. Khalil, Kawkab A. Ahmed

March 2006

Basal metabolic regulatory responses and rhythmic activity of mammalian heart to aqueous kola nut extracts

Preliminary investigation on the effect of aqueous extracts of three species of kola nut;Cola acuminata (P. Beav), C. nitida subsp. rubra and C. nitida subsp. alba (Vent), on the rhythmic activity of mammalian heart and metabolic rate was carried out using male albino rats, Rattus sp. Low concentrations of kola nut extract stimulated the heart by increasing rate and...

Author(s): Chukwu, L.O, Odiete, W. O. and Briggs, L.S.

March 2006

Antimicrobial susceptibility of some urinary tract clinical isolates to commonly used antibiotics

The antimicrobial susceptibility of urinary tract isolates from pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in various hospitals within Kaduna, Nigeria, was carried out using the disc diffusion method. The patterns of inhibition varied with the concentration of the antibiotic used. Escherichia coli was the most sensitive to ciprofloxacillin (33 mm/5 mg ml-1) and pefloxacin (15 mm/10 mg ml-1). It was...

Author(s): Inabo, H. I. and Obanibi, H. B. T.