Molecular Identification of Biodiversity of Fusarium species Isolated from Wilted Oil Palm and Date Palm in Nigeria.

Biodiversity of sixteen Fusarium isolates, isolated from the roots of oil palm and date palm in Nigeria was studied. Ten Fusarium isolates out of the sixteen were obtained from the oil palm while six isolates were from date palm. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to detect the phylogenetic similarity between them. The unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic average (UPGMA) dendrogram clearly separated these sixteen Fusarium isolates into five groups (clusters). The first at SC values of 100 grouped six Fusarium isolates (5, 2, 13, 9, 8 and 14,) of both oil and date palms. They belonged to F. oxysporum and F. chlamydosporum. The second at SC values of 100 had one Fusarium isolate (16) of date palm. It belonged to F. solani. The third at DC values of 71-100 grouped six isolates (6, 4, 3, 7, 11 and 10) of oil and date palms. They all belonged to F. solani. The fourth at DC value of 76 had one Fusarium isolate (1) of oil palm, it belonged to F. nelsonii. The fifth at SC value of 100 grouped two Fusarium isolates (15,12) of date palm. They belonged to F. nelsonii and chlamydosporum. The sequence alignment technique showed there were similarities between these sixteen Fusarium isolates. The analysis of RAPD showed that the sixteen Fusarium isolates were five groups while sequence alignment technique grouped them into five Fusarium isolates. The slight difference in similarity may be attributed to ecological origin and zone of the Fusarium isolates.

Antifungal property and phytochemical screening of the crude extracts of Funtumia elastica and Mallotus oppositifolius / Propiedades antifúngicas y pesquizaje fitoquímico de los extractos crudos de funtumia elastica y mallotus oppositifolius

The antifungal properties of aqueous and ethanol extracts of Funtumia elastica and Mallotus oppositifolius were carried out using the disc diffusion agar assay. The crude extracts exhibited definite significant antifungal activity on most of the fungi. The zone of inhibition varied for the fungi, which were: Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, Microsporium audouinii, Penicillium sp, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichoderma sp and Trichosporon cutaneum with respect to the type of plant extract. The aqueous extracts of Mallotus oppositifolius had the highest zone of inhibition of 24.75 +/- 0.86 mm on Penicillium sp. The fulcin antibiotic had zone of inhibition of 11.94 +/- 0.43 mm on Microsporium audouinii, being its highest inhibition on any of the fungi tested. Preliminary phytochemical studies of F elastica and M oppositifolius extracts revealed that they contain anthocyanins, butacyanin, flavonoids, steroids and tannins. Phytobutanin was absent in the extracts. Heavy metal analysis of plant materials showed absence of cadmium, zinc, lead, chromium and nickel, while the presence of copper iron and manganese was less than 0.95.

Las propiedades antifúngicas de los extractos acuosos y etanólicos de Funtumia elastica y Mallotus oppositifolius fueron probadas mediante ensayo de difusión con discos en agar. Los extractos crudos mostraron poseer una actividad antifúngica definitivamente significativa sobre la mayoría de los hongos. La zona de inhibición varió en correspondencia con los hongos, a saber, Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, Microsporium audouinii, Penicillium sp, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichoderma sp y Trichosporon cutaneum, con respecto al tipo de extracto de planta. Los extractos acuosos de Mallotus oppositifolius presentaron la zona de inhibición más alta, a saber, 24.75 ± 0.86 mm, al aplicarse sobre Penicillium sp. El antibiótico fulcin presentó una zona de inhibición de 11.94 ± 0.43 mm al aplicarse sobre Microsporium audouinii, resultando ser ésta la inhibición más alta en relación con todos los hongos sometidos a prueba. Los estudios fitoquímicos de los extractos de F elastica y M oppositifolius revelaron contenidos de antocianinas, butacianinas, flavonoides, esteroides, y taninas. La fitobutanina estuvo ausente en todos los extractos. El análisis de metales pesados en las muestras de plantas mostró ausencia de cadmio, zinc, plomo, cromo y níquel, en tanto que la presencia de cobre, hierro y manganeso estuvo por debajo de 0.95%.

Biodegradation of crude petroleum and petroleum products by fungi isolated from two oil seeds (melon and soybean).

Crude petroleum oil degrading fungi were isolated from two oil seeds, Cucumeropsis mannii (melon) and Glycine max (soybean) seeds in the presence and absence of petroleum fumes. An assessment of the relative ability of each fungus to degrade crude petroleum, diesel and kerosene on minimum salt solution was done using change in optical density read on spectrophotometer. Twenty-one fungal species (14 genera) were isolated altogether during this experiment. These include eight species of Aspergillus; one species each of Botryodiplodia, Bipolaris, Cladosporium, Cunnighamella, Dreschlera, Fusarium, Helminthosporium, Macrophomina, Mucor, Paeciliomyces, Penicillium, Rhizopus and Talariomyces. It was evident that most of the fungi tested were able to biodegrade the crude petroleum oil, though at different rates. Bipolaris had a low rate of biodegradation of the petroleum oil of all the fungal species isolated Botryodiplodia theobromae had the highest degrading ability on the crude oil, while Aspergillus flavus had the least after 40 days of incubation. Aspergillus flavus had the highest ability to biodegrade diesel while A. niger had the least ability. In kerosene, Macrophomina phaseolina had the highest ability while A. niger had the least ability to biodegrade it. There was fluctuation in the growth pattern of the fungi in the petroleum oil medium. The implication of these are discussed.