ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF SOME EDIBLE MUSHROOMS

ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF SOME EDIBLE MUSHROOMS

ABSTRACT

Two species of edible mushrooms were collected from Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa Community and were used to investigate the effectiveness on the test organisms i.e bacteria and fungi (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans) Preliminary screening of ethanol extract against the test organisms indicated that both extract inhibited the growth of the test organisms, which shows different degree zone of inhibition at different concentrations Mushroom A was 14mm against Stapyloccus aureus and mushroom B 16mm against Candida albicans. The most effective  zone inhibition was recorded on mushroom B. the phytochemical screening of mushrooms A and B were found to contain Saponin, Alkaloids, Flavonoids and Tannins which could be a source of active antimicrobial agents and can be used for the managements of ailments that are caused by the test organisms. Due to some critical ailments in the nation today, mushroom farming should be encourage in Nigeria.  

CHAPTER ONE

1.0  INTRODUCTION

Mushroom is defined as a macro fungus with a distinctive fruiting body that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye and to be picked up by hand (Chang and Miles, 1989). Most familiar mushrooms are saprophytic or mycorrhizae fungi living as extensive dikaryotic mycelia in the soil. Under favorable conditions, the mycelia aggregate into local clumps and grow out of the soil as button, which then develop into mushroom (Peter, 1989).

To many people, mushrooms are a strange phenomenon which lives most of the years unnoticed under the ground or on wood or inside the wood. It is by fruiting that they reveal themselves (Ayodele and Okhouya, 2007). In Nigeria, for instance, many cultures are afraid of gathering and consuming mushrooms due to stories that mushrooms are poisonous when consumed. As a result people are reluctant to pick wild edible mushrooms. According to (Oso, 1977),  Chinese and joneses chronicles that they were collected in the wild and given to their emperor as a tribute. The Romans are said to eat mushroom on special occasions. This shows the importance of edible mushrooms since early periods of human civilization (Ayodele and Okhouya, 2007).

Most agricultural and agro-industrial waste arising out of the production of cereal grains, fruits, vegetables and timber are prone to decay and hence can be more judiciously used  for mushroom cultivation as  substrate (Ayodele and Okhouya, 2007).

Mushrooms are used as source of food, aroma, and colourant, as source of dyes for fabric and a good source of medicine They are also important in nature because they help to sanitize the surrounding environment and also provide employment opportunity (Ayodele and Okhouya, 2007).

Some African countries have made advances in the area of new drugs. These African countries include: Egypt, Burkinafaso, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia Zimbabwe and south Africa (Sofowora, 1984). In many developed countries, herbal medicine cannot be totally ignored because it is mostly practiced in the remotest parts of many developed countries where orthodox medicine is limited or completely absent (Sofowora, 1993). The practice of herbal medicine in modernized from is now gaining momentum in Nigeria and many other developing nations with various health officials and other person coming to realize the potencies and efficiencies of some of the indigenous plants (Nwaogu, 1997).

Mushrooms have long been used in traditional medicine in many part of the world and are particularly well represented in pharmacopeias of Asian traditional medicine. Until recently, the importance of mushrooms and their extracts were dismissed out of hand by medicine researchers, who saw few medicinal compound of interests in basidiomycetes and no empirical basis for the claimed efficacy of mushroom used in traditional herbal medicine. This began to change some 30 years ago as Japans researchers began to examine the use of mushrooms extract, especially those of polypore’s in the management of cancer (Agrahar M.D, 2005).

1.1     AIM/OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
          AIM 

1. To screen mushroom A and mushroom B for antibacterial and antifungal activities.

OBJECTIVES

1. To determine the phytochemical constituents of the mushroom A and mushroom B
2. To determine the health benefit of mushroom
3. To determine the toxicity of mushroom extract

 1.2     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Drugs for treatment of diseases  are costly and cases of side effects leading to most death of victim shortly after recovery abound. In addition to these factors cases of  drug resistance by organisms are on the increase, therefore, the need for this research.

1.3     SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study screened  two edible mushrooms in Nigeria for antibacterial and antifungal activities against Staphylococcus aureus,  Escherichia coli and Candia albicans.
 

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Antimicrobial properties of many plant extracts have been reported by many authors, (Ishikawa et al.,2001; Jonathan and Fasidi, 2005; Sofowora, 1993 and Dugler et al., 2004). Working on the antibacterial properties of some plant species i.e Vivaria chamae acahypta ciliate found out that the extracts of these plants inhibits the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pyognes, and Salmonella typhi. Many other work demonstrated antifungal activities of plant extracts (Imtiaj and lee, 2007).

Some other plant whose antimicrobial effect have been demonstrated include: garlic, Allium sativum, which is active against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus pyogenes. It was also reported to be effective against types of fungi, yeast and viruses (Jonathan and Fasidi, 2005).