Antimicrobial Activity of Extract from the Abdominal Gland of African Weaver Ants
(
Oecophylla longinoda
) on the Microorganisms Isolated from Cocoa Pods
Oladunmoye Muftau K1, Isijola Samuel O1 and Oladosu Tolulope O2*
1Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
2Department of Biological Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
*Corresponding Author: Oladosu Tolulope O, Department of Biological Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State,
Nigeria.
Received: January 22, 2018; Published: February 21, 2018
DOI: 10.31080/ASMI.2018.01.0028
This research was conducted to investigate into the antimicrobial potency of the abdominal gland extract of African Weaver Ant
(AWA) against microorganisms isolated from Cocoa pods. Six (6) fresh samples of both infected and uninfected Cocoa pods gotten
from a village farm in Ibule-soro, Ondo State were transferred to the laboratory under aseptic conditions. One gram from the pod of
each sample was subjected to microbial analysis for isolation and the antimicrobial effects of the AWA abdominal extract was sub-
sequently evaluated. Selected conventional antibiotics were used as controls. Bacterial isolates obtained were
Bacillus subtilis, Pseu-
domonas aeruginosa, Serratia fonticola, Proteus penneri, Enterobacter cloacae, Citrobacter freundii, Edwardsiella tarda, Klebsiella oxy-
toca
and
Proteus mirabilis
, while fungal isolates were
Aspergillus aculeatinus, Alternaria
sp.,
Chloridium chlamydosporis, Aspergillus
niger, Phytophthora palmivora, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus tamari, Fusarium
sp.,
Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium camemberti,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomycodes ludwigii
. Four of all the bacterial isolates (
Bacillus subtilis, Edwardsiella tarda, Proteus
penneri, Proteus mirabilis
) used for this study exhibited high levels of sensitivity to the abdominal gland of African weaver ants with
the following zones of inhibition: 19 mm, 19 mm, 20 mm and 21 mm respectively. Similarly, fungal isolates were observed to be sen-
sitive to the
Oecophylla longinoda
abdominal extract, with
Aspergillus flavus
having the highest zone of inhibition (14.89 mm). This
research reveals the potentials of abdominal extracts from African weaver ants (
Oecophylla longinoda
) in antimicrobial capacities
against most aetiological agents of Cocoa diseases.
Keywords:Cocoa;
Oecophylla Longinoda
; Antibacterial; Antifungal
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