Quality Attributes of Fresh Palm Oils Produced from Selected Communities around Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria

Objective: To determine the physical and chemical qualities of fresh red palm oils produced from four selected communities around Anyigba town. Materials and Methods: Freshly prepared red palm oils were collected from four selected palm oil processing communities (Agbeji, Dekina, Agala-ate and Egume) around Anyigba town. The oils were analyzed for their physical (refractive index, impurities, density, smoke point, flash point and fire point) and chemical (moisture, free fatty acids, peroxide value, saponification value iodine value and unsaponificable matter) qualities using standard methods. Palm oil processors in the selected communities were interviewed on the methods of processing palm oil. Results: The palm oils had similar refractive index which ranged from 1.455 to 1.460. The Egume (0.08%) and Dekina (0.59%) palm oils contained lower impurities than the Agala-ate (1.95%) and Agbeji (1.58%) oils. The density did not differ significantly (p>0.05) among the oil samples. However, the Agala-ate oil had lower smoke, flash and fire points than the other oil samples. All the oil samples had low contents of moisture (0.25 to 2.29%) and free fatty acids (1.98 to 3.63%). The peroxide values of the oils varied from 7.1 to 8.8 meg/kg, with Dekina (8.8meg/kg) and Egume (7.1meg/kg) having the highest and lowest values, respectively. Agbeji oil had the highest saponification value (235mg KOH/g) while Agala-ate oil showed the lowest value of 191mg KOH/g. The iodine values of the Agala-ate (42.8) and Agbeji (40.3) were higher than those for the Dekina (30.4) and Egume (38.6) oils. Higher amount of unsaponifiable matter was obtained for Dekina (20.8g/kg) and Agbeji (17.8g/kg) than the Agalaate (9.3 g/kg) and Egume (7.9g/kg) oils. Egume oil was not significantly different (p>0.05 from NIFOR oil (control) in all the parameters assessed. Conclusion: All the oil samples had low levels of impurities, moisture, free fatty acids, peroxide value and iodine. However, Dekina and Agbeji palm oils contained substantial amounts of unsaponifible matters with respect to the other palm oils. Egume palm oil was comparable to NIFOR palm oil (control) in all the quality determining parameters and thus, was considered superior to the other palm oils produced around Anyigba town. Keywords: Palm oil, quality, extraction, adulteratio

Phytochemical characteristics and in vitro antibacterial activity of caesalpinia pulcherrima stem bark extracts against some clinical isolates

The aqueous and ethanol stem bark-extracts of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Pride of Barbados) were screened for phyto-constituents and in vitro antimicrobial activity on clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi and Klebsiella pneumoniae using paper disc diffusion method. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and tannins in the extracts. The in vitro antimicrobial assay result showed that both ethanol and aqueous extracts displayed concentration dependent activity against all the test isolates. The ethanol extract demonstrated higher and better activity comparable to those of conventional antibiotics (Chloramphenicol and Ampicillin) used, especially at the highest concentrations of test extract( 200 mg/ml). The most and least sensitivity organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20.0+0.10 mm zone of inhibition) and Proteus mirabilis (5.2+0.01 mm zone of inhibition). The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values ranged from 6.25 - 50 and 12.5-100 mg/ml respectively. The results obtained in this study showed that this plant could be used in treating diseases caused by the test organisms.Keywords: Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Pride of Barbados, antimicrobial activity, disc diffusion International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(3): 329-336, 201

Biochemical Characteristics of the African Nutmeg, Monodora Myristica

Proximate, mineral, phytochemical and antinutrients composition of African nutmeg (Monodora myristica) flour were determined using standard analytical techniques. The physicochemical characteristics of the oil were also investigated. The mean values of various parameters for proximate composition (%) were: moisture (13.15±2.73), total ash (3.90±1.05), crude fat (27.77±2.57), crude protein (10.13±1.95), crude fibre (23.38±4.45) and carbohydrate (by difference) (21.2%). The calculated fatty acids were 23.28% and energy was 1591.8 KJ/100g. Minerals (mg/100g) included: Mg (86.96±4.01), Ca (416.01±1.42), K (869.64±4.03), P (112.03±4.63), Mn (1.05±0.35), Fe (21.71±0.52), Na (17.66±0.32), Cu (0.19±0.02), Al (4.98±0.68), and Zn (1.52±0.11), while Pb was not detected. The relationship between Na and K as well as Ca and P were desirable with respective ratios of Na/K (0.02) and Ca/P (3.71). The results of physicochemical properties of African nutmeg seed oil with the mean value of the following parameters-colour (yellow), refractive index (1.477), specific gravity (1.464 g/cm3), acid value (66.50±2.23 mgKOH/g), saponification value (414.53±10.29 mgKOH/g), iodine value (101.61±2.30 mgIodine/g), peroxide value (4.13±0.40), and free fatty acids (33.26±1.12 mg/g) indicated that African nutmeg oil is a drying oil, may not be suitable for cooking of foods and for soap making. The results of phytochemical screening which revealed the presence of glycosides, cyanogenic glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, steroids, oxalates, and phytates and the antinutrients composition which included tannins (0.64±0.08), oxalates (1.05±0.02), cyanogenic glycosides (0.32±0.08), saponins (1.58±0.60), and phytates (4.08±0.10) suggest that the African nutmeg is relatively safe for consumption. Keywords: African nutmeg, Monodora myristica, antinutrient composition, oi

Antibacterial activities of three medicinal plants against some gastro-intestinal microorganisms

The in vitro antibacterial activity of aqueous (cold and hot water extract) and ethanolic leaf extracts of Bambusa vulgaris, Erigeron floribundus, and Fluerya aestuans were evaluated against clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi, and Shigelladysentriae using agar well diffusion and broth dilution techniques respectively. Tetracycline was used as positive control antibiotics. The antibacterial assay showed that the three plants significantly inhibited all the test organisms at varying degrees. The ethanolic and hot aqueousextracts displayed greater antimicrobial activity than the cold extracts. The diameters of zones of inhibition of the plant extracts ranged from 7.8 - 15.5 mm for the ethanol extracts, 7.0 -12.0 mm and 5.0 - 8.5 mm for hot and cold aqueous extracts respectively depending on the test organisms.Their MIC values ranged from 31.25 – 125 mg/ml. The activities of the extracts were significantly lower (p<0.05) than those of the tetracycline for which MIC values ranged from 3.91 - 7.81mg/ml. The antimicrobial activity of the standard antibiotics used was not affected (p<0.05) by the plantextracts when combined and tested against the isolates. The activities observed could be due to the presence of some secondary metabolites like, steroids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, phenols, glycosides and flavonoids, which were detected in the extracts. This study therefore, established a good support for the use of these plants in traditional medicines.Keywords: Bambusa vulgaris, Erigeron floribundus, Fluerya aestuans, medicinal plant

In Vitro Antimicrobial Evaluation of African Nutmeg (Monodora Myristica) Seeds

The organic (Hexane and ethanol) and aqueous extracts of African nutmeg (Monodora myristica) seeds were studied on isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi and Candida albicans using agar well diffusion technique at extract concentrations of 200, 100,  and 50 mg/ml. The result showed that the various extracts displayed varying degrees of activities with the ethanolic extract demonstrating the highest activity, followed by hexane extract, against all the test isolates. Only S. aureus, E. coli, and B. cereus, were inhibited by the aqueous extracts. Susceptibility increased with concentrations and at 200 mg/ml, S. aureus, E. coli, P aeruginosa, B. cerus, P. mirabilis and C. albicans were generally more susceptible to the organic extracts than S. typhi, and K. pnuemoniae. The antimicrobial zones of inhibition of the organic extracts ranged between 8.0 and 16.0 mm as against 7.0 and 9.0 mm obtained from the aqueous extract at 200 mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged from 12.5 - 100 mg/ml for the organic extracts. This study suggests that the extracts of African nutmeg posses antimicrobial properties against common pathogenic organisms. Keywords: African nutmeg, Monodora myristica, antimicrobial properties, clinical isolate

Measurement of b jet shapes in proton-proton collisions at s=5.02 TeV

We present the first study of charged-hadron production associated with jets originating from b quarks in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The data sample used in this study was collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb(-1). To characterize the jet substructure, the differential jet shapes, defined as the normalized transverse momentum distribution of charged hadrons as a function of angular distance from the jet axis, are measured for b jets. In addition to the jet shapes, the per-jet yields of charged particles associated with b jets are also quantified, again as a function of the angular distance with respect to the jet axis. Extracted jet shape and particle yield distributions for b jets are compared with results for inclusive jets, as well as with the predictions from the pythia and herwig++ event generators

Measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section at root s=13 TeV

A measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV is presented. The analysis is based on events with energy deposits in the forward calorimeters, which cover pseudorapidities of -6.6 4.1 GeV and/or M-Y > 13 GeV, where M-x and M-Y are the masses of the diffractive dissociation systems at negative and positive pseudorapidities, respectively. The results are compared with those from other experiments as well as to predictions from high-energy hadron-hadron interaction models