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Bacterial Heterogeneity and Density of Glufosinate Ammonium Contaminated Soil: A Microcosm Study
No full textIntroduction: Indiscriminate use of herbicides in agriculture poses significant threats to soil health, particularly by affecting the diversity and abundance of soil microorganisms
Aim: This study investigated the effects of glufosinate ammonium on soil microbial communities and physicochemical properties.
Study Design: A microcosm experiment was carried out in the laboratory to ascertain the short term effects of glufosinate ammonium application on soil microorganisms.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Environmental Management &Toxicology, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun/ June-August, 2024.
Methodology: One kilogram of soil was contaminated with the herbicide (20mL and 60mL (v/w)) in triplicates. A control was set-up without the herbicide. Soil samples were collected from herbicide-treated and untreated microcosms and analyzed for physicochemicals and heterotrophic biota before and two weeks after contamination.
Results: Baseline analysis revealed pH, organic carbon content, lead and cadmium values were 6.40, 1.46%, 6.42 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively. Total heterotrophic bacterial and fungal counts were 2 × 104 CFU/g and 1.65 × 104 CFU/g. Furthermore, values for pH, organic carbon, lead, cadmium were 7.40, 1.30%, 6.9mg/kg and 0.16mg/kg (control), 7.60, 1.64%, 6.22mg/kg, 0.10mg/kg (20mL), 7.7, 1.68%, 8.10mg/kg and 0.18mg/kg (60mL), respectively. Total heterotrophic bacterial counts were 5.0 × 104 CFU/g (control), 3.30 × 104 CFU/g (20mL) and 3.00 × 104 CFU/g (60mL) while total heterotrophic fungal counts were 3.25 × 104 CFU/g (control), 3.00 × 104 CFU/g (20mL) and 2.50 × 104 CFU/g (60mL) after contamination. Species of Bacillus, Enterobacter, Paenibacillus, Corynebacterium, Enterococcus, Klebsiella, Proteus, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus were identified in this study.
Conclusion: The results revealed that herbicides significantly altered the microbial population, with heterotrophic fungi showing resilience. This study contributes to understanding the complex interactions between herbicides, soil microorganisms, and physicochemical properties, providing a foundation for sustainable agricultural practices in herbicide-treated environments
Assessment of the Persistent Organic Compounds Residual Level in Farm Soil of Telfaria occidentalis Hook F. Cultivation Area in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria
No full textSoil samples from some selected farms where Telfaria occidentalis Hook F. was planted within the Federal Capital Territory was during the rainy season (August 2023) soil samples were collected using a modified grid of 40 m – 40 m adapted from (Anibasa, 2016) with 20 m apart between sampling locations at a depth of 10 cm for each sampling location, these were analyzed for Persistent Organic Compounds (POCs) residue level using Gas Chromatography-Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD). The inorganic pesticides like, Alpha-BHC, Beta-BHC, Gamma-BHC, Heptachlor, Endrin, DDT, Endosulfan II, DDD (Dichloro diphenyl dichloroethane) and Endosulfan Sulfate were recorded. Endosulfan Sulfate was the highest concentration of 3.00±0.69 mg/kg in the soil and was recorded in three Area Councils, followed by Heptachlor with concentration of 2.14±0.73 mg/kg recorded in all the Area Councils, Beta- BHC with concentration of 2.12±0.48 mg/kg recorded in five Area Councils and the lowest concentration of 0.67±0.22 mg/kg was that of Alpha –BHC recorded from three Area Councils. Statistical analysis of the findings indicated that the data was not normally distributed and no significant difference (p˂0.05) in the concentrations across the six Area Councils however, all the concentrations were above Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) permissible by WHO/FAO in soil
Automated Estimation of Plant Leaf Disease Severity Using Classical Image Segmentation Techniques
No full textAim: This study aimed to propose a computationally cost-effective method for automated estimation of plant leaf disease severity in resource-limited settings.
Study Design: The performance of four image segmentation algorithms—global thresholding, adaptive thresholding, Otsu thresholding, and edge detection—was evaluated using nine curated images of disease-affected leaves from tomato, bell pepper, and potato plants. Each image was segmented into healthy and diseased regions, and quantitative metrics—including diseased pixel counts, percentage of affected area, healthy-to-diseased ratios, and computational time—were analyzed to assess algorithm performance.
Results: The segmentation methods executed with near-instantaneous speed (0–0.001 seconds per image). Global and Otsu thresholding consistently demonstrated high segmentation accuracy, leading to reliable severity estimations. Adaptive thresholding tended to overestimate disease severity, while edge detection, despite providing precise lesion boundaries, significantly underestimated overall disease severity.
Conclusion: Comparative analysis, supported by visual validation, suggests that Otsu thresholding, closely followed by global thresholding, is the most effective approach for leaf disease severity estimation, offering high accuracy with minimal computational overhead. These findings indicate that classical computer vision techniques can play a valuable role in supporting plant disease diagnostics and estimation in resource-constrained environments
Evaluation of the Sensitivity of Strains of phytophthora spp Cause of Brown Rot of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao l.) against to Limocide 60 ME (An Extract of Sweet Orange Essential Oil)
No full textIvory Coast produces nearly 2 million tons, which represents 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), more than 50% of exports and provides seven million jobs to Ivorians. However, its production is severely limited by the brown rot disease of cocoa pods. In order to increase production and improve public health and environmental problems, sweet orange essential oil extract was used to combat cocoa brown rot disease caused by Phytophthora spp. A morphological description of the pathogen was carried out. The effectiveness of Limocide was tested at doses of 100, 200, 400, 800 ppm and compared to NECO and Callomil super. Limocide, Callomil super and NECO significantly inhibited the in vitro mycelial growth of Phytophthora spp with 29.76, 89.41 and 100% respectively after six days of incubation. The minimum concentrations that inhibit 50% (IC 50 ) the growth of the fungus were, respectively, 929, 1521 and 348 ppm for Limocide , Callomil super and NECO. The biofungicide Limocide has proven its ability to control brown rot of cocoa pods under controlled conditions
The “Glaçage” Technique: An Innovative Traditional Practice in Attiéké Processing
No full textAttiéké, a staple food from Côte d’Ivoire, is the most widely consumed cassava-based product in the country. Popular across all social classes and age groups, it is central to both rural and urban diets. Attiéké is a fermented cassava semolina cooked by steaming. The "glaçage" technique, an integral part of Attiéké production process, is a preservation method involving a fermentation phase. This technique is widely practiced in southeastern Côte d\u27Ivoire. This study, conducted in the Alépé department, aimed to assess the knowledge and application of the "glaçage" technique among female Attiéké producers and to establish a detailed production diagram incorporating this process. The survey focused on the sub-prefecture of Oghlwapo, particularly the villages of Domolon, Dabré, Akouré, and Oguédoumé. The sample consisted of Attiéké producers across four age groups: 18–25 years, 26–30 years, 31–45 years, and 46 years and older. Data collection was conducted between May and August 2021. The questionnaire was developed and data analyzed using Sphinx Plus 2 (V5) and Excel 2013. The survey of 400 female producers revealed a 100% awareness of the "glaçage" technique across the studied localities. The results also indicated a correlation between the level of practice and factors such as locality, education level, age group, and ethnicity. The practice rate ranged from 43% to 72%. Regarding education, producers with no formal education or only primary education showed the highest adoption rates. In terms of age, producers over 45 demonstrated the highest level of practice (88.5%). Ethnically, the "Gwa" community stood out with a practice rate of 85.4%. The reasons for employing this technique included cultural traditions, physical fatigue limiting continuous production, enhanced organoleptic qualities (taste, aroma, color, and texture of Attiéké grains), and the extended shelf life of Attiéké at room temperature. This study highlights the significance of the "glaçage" technique and provides a foundation for its valorization
Prioritisation of Promising Therapeutic Targets in Plasmodium falciparum Using in Silico Multi Criteria Scoring
No full textBackground: Malaria remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases globally, causing over 597,000 deaths each year, with Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) responsible for the most severe cases. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region of the world, the region hosting more than 90% of the global burden of P. falciparum. Despite years of research, drug resistance continues to emerge, underscoring the urgent need for new therapeutic targets.
Aim: The aim of this study is to identify promising therapeutic targets in Plasmodium falciparum using advanced in silico approaches. This study focuses particularly on the intraerythrocytic stage of the parasite\u27s life cycle, which is critical for its survival and proliferation.
Methodology: A comprehensive bioinformatics approach was employed, integrating data mining and extensive database analyses to efficiently streamline the drug discovery pipeline and pinpoint vital therapeutic targets in Plasmodium falciparum. Analyses were carried out from January to June 2022 at the African Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics (ACE-Mali), using data from the TDR Targets database and advanced bioinformatics tools. The WHO validated TDR Targets database was used to extract Plasmodium falciparum proteins likely to be therapeutic targets, applying strict criteria such as strong expression during the intra-erythrocytic stage, lack of human orthologs, essentiality, druggability score and bibliographic support. This candidate list has been refined using an in-house scoring system combining bioinformatics analyses, taking into account criteria such as the presence of transmembrane helices, sequence identity, and conservation. Each criterion was scored from 0 to 3 and summed into an overall prioritisation score to systematically rank proteins.
Results: The study identified sixteen potential therapeutic targets, with five of them: Adenylate kinase, P. falciparum Chloroquine Resistance Transporter (PfCRT), AdenyloSuccinate Lyase (ADSL), PhosphatidylSerine Decarboxylase (PSD), and Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDI), highlighted as highly promising. These key proteins are involved in essential processes such as invasion, replication, and immune evasion of the malaria parasite.
Conclusion: This study identified sixteen potential therapeutic targets against malaria, with Adenylate kinase, PfCRT, ADSL, PSD, and PDI standing out as particularly promising. These targets may contribute to overcoming drug resistance and support global eradication efforts. The findings highlight the power of in silico approaches in accelerating drug discovery and target validation
Effect of Green Biomass from Tithonia diversifolia and Chromolaena odorata on the Growth and Yield of Broccoli in the Haut-Sassandra Region, Côte d’Ivoire
No full textSoil degradation and declining fertility are major constraints to vegetable production, particularly in the Haut-Sassandra region. This study evaluated the effects of green biomasses of Tithonia diversiflora and Chromolaena odorata on the growth of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica). The experiment was conducted using a randomised complete block design with four replications and four treatments: Tithonia diversiflora alone, Chromolaena odorata alone, their combination, and an unfertilised control. Observations focused on plant height, stem circumference, leaf number, leaf length and width, and soil chemical properties. Results showed that the application of green biomasses enhanced vegetative growth and improved soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and exchangeable bases. Plants fertilised with Tithonia diversiflora or Chromolaena odorata individually performed better than the control, while their combination did not exhibit a marked synergistic effect. Fertilised treatments exhibited significantly greater growth than the control (p < 0.05), with no notable differences between T1, T2, and T3. This trend intensified until the eighth week, when the control remained significantly lower (p = 0.001). These findings indicate that the use of these biomasses is a promising organic fertilisation strategy for sustaining soil productivity and promoting sustainable agriculture. It can help to reduce production costs, limit dependency on chemical inputs, and preserve long-term soil fertility
Effect of Salt Concentration on the Production of α-Amylase and Protease by Bacillus coagulans and Wastewater Treatment Potential
No full textBacillus coagulans is a moderately halotolerant bacterium with potential applications in enzyme production and wastewater treatment in brackish aquaculture systems. In this study, we examined how different NaCl concentrations (0 - 5%) affect the growth and extracellular α-amylase and protease activities of the strain B. coagulans PILS15.4. We also evaluated its ability to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) in real shrimp-pond wastewater with a salinity of 2.2%. The bacterium maintained relatively good growth up to about 3% NaCl, although cell density declined steadily as salinity increased. α-Amylase and protease activities were highest at low salinity (0 - 0.5% NaCl; 13.4 - 13.6 U/mL and 31.9 - 32.2 U/mL, respectively) and dropped sharply at salt levels above 3%. In the wastewater experiment, the inoculated treatment consistently achieved higher COD removal than the control, with the greatest improvement observed during the first 24 hours (20.7 - 21.4% compared with 2.3 - 3.8%). Both incubation time and bacterial addition significantly influenced COD reduction. Overall, B. coagulans showed promising potential for improving the early-stage degradation of organic matter in shrimp-pond wastewater under moderate salinity, although its enzyme production and treatment efficiency were clearly limited at higher salt concentrations. In shrimp pond wastewater with a salinity of 2.2%, the addition of B. coagulans significantly improved the effectiveness of COD elimination in the first 24 hours compared to the control
Sustainable Production of Liquid Biofertilizer: Utilizing Spent Mushroom Substrate and Watermelon Peels
No full textBiofertilizers are natural fertilizers that contains live biomass. This study demonstrates the production of Liquid biofertilizer through the use of spent mushroom substrate (SMS), and watermelon peels by liquid state fermentation technique. This is a result of contamination and lose of soil fertility faced by the environment and agricultural farm land as a result of incessant use of inorganic fertilizers that are persistent in the soil. The two waste materials of 5379g each were obtained and placed on a 35-litre drum, 27 litre of water was poured on the mixture after washing the watermelon peel and stirred evenly, then allowed to ferment for 3 weeks under anaerobic condition, then filtration of the mixture was done after complete fermentation, and microbiological and physicochemical analysis was carried out on the mixture before and after fermentation. Reduction in the concentration of total nitrogen, phosphorous, magnesium and potassium were observed after fermentation while iron content increased after fermentation. The following bacterial species were identified using 16S rRNA gene amplicons: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas, geniculata, Sphingobacterium daejeonense and Alcaligene faecalis. A Pot experiment was carried out with a planting bag on three set ups in duplicates, (i) seed + liquid biofertilizer application, (ii) seed + chemical fertilizer application (iii) Seed alone. Then planting of bean seed (Phasolous vulgaris L.) and groundnut seed (Arachis hypogea) on each set up after physicochemical analysis of the planting soil. Growth comparison using germination test was done by measuring the shoot length, leaf length, leave number, leaf width, stem girth and number of branches, it was observed that the treatment with liquid biofertilizer application competed favourably with that of chemical fertilizer treatment and the biofertilizer also serves as a bio-control agent as the leaves of the biofertilizer set up was not eaten by caterpillar while that of inorganic (chemical fertilizer) was eaten up
Isolation, Screening and Identification of Biopolymer Producing Bacillus cereus from Vegetable Wastes
No full textPlastic materials are causing tremendous damage to the environment. To mitigate the use of synthetic plastics, eco-friendly biopolymers have emerged as an alternative to plastics. Biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) are currently used in several synthetic applications similar to biopolymers. The present research was conducted to screen bacteria from vegetable wastes for PHB production. The PHB producing bacteria were screened using Sudan Black-B stain followed by microscopic examination for presence of PHB granules. The PHB was produced through a shake flask fermentation method. The significant PHB-producing bacteria was sequenced by 16S rRNA sequencing (1200bp) (NCIMRef: 2023/Seq-160), by NCIM, Pune, India. The sequencing report showed that the bacterial isolate has 99.93% closest homology to Bacillus cereus. Further, we have deposited this sequence in GenBank (SUB14283541 907R_Seq160_CB4 PP422177, SUB14283541 907R_Seq160_CB4_RC PP422178, SUB14283541 704F_Seq160_CB4 PP422179, and SUB14283541 907RC_704F_Seq160_CB4 PP422180) for further reference and studies. The Bacillus cereus CB 4-derived biopolymer precipitated with acetone has shown maximum PHB yield of 2.7 gL-1. Further research prospects would focus on the optimization of biopolymer production and its quality testing on various parameters