Assessment of Mycoflora of Poultry Feed Raw Materials

Abstract: The study was carried out to identify the common moulds growing in the selected feed raw materials in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Fifty-four bulk samples were derived from 162 bags of 6 different raw materials, which included local fish meal (LFM), soybean meal (SBM), groundnut cake (GNC), palm kernel cake (PKC), brewers dried grain (BDG) and maize (MZ). The samples were collected during the rainy season months of June, July and August. The common moulds isolated from these samples were Mucor spp., Aspergillus spp., Yeast spp., Bacteria spp and Rhizopus spp. More fungal organisms were isolated in the month of July although Aspergillus spp was not isolated during the month. Local fishmeal, palm kernel cake, and brewers dried grain had the highest isolates of three organisms each with the prevalence ranging from 13.64 to 18.18%. Soybean meal, maize and groundnut cake on the other hand returned between one and two isolates. The present result showed that untreated feed raw materials are important vehicles for introduction of fungal organisms into poultry feed. It is therefore, advised to routinely treat such feed raw materials with fungal growth inhibitors in order to limit their growth since these organisms are capable of reducing the nutritional values of finished feeds

Bacteriological And Physico-Chemical Qualities Of Waste Water From A Bottling Company In Owerri, Nigeria

Waste water in the accumulation pond and final discharge point of Nigerian Bottling Company PLC in Owerri, Nigeria was analyzed to determine their bacteriological and physico-chemical characteristics. Species of organisms isolated included Staphyloccus, Bacillus, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus. Others include Klebsiella, Escherichia, proteus and serratia. However, species of Lactobacillus and proteus were isolated from the final discharge point only. Bacterial count after 72 hours was higher with a maximum count of 6x107 cfu/ml in the final discharge point. The waste water from both points were clear and had the same residual chlorine (1ppm) and iron (1ppm) concentration, while the accumulation pond showed more acidity with a pH of 6.6+1.2. The final discharge contained more dissolved solids (20+1.8ppm) which was double that of the accumulation pond (10+2.2ppm). It was also found that dissolved oxygen was slightly higher (6.0+.26mg/ml) in the final discharge point than accumulation pond (5.0+.33mg/ml). Results of this study were found to be within the permissible limits for effluent discharge specified by the Federal Ministry of environment in Nigeria. KEY WORDS: Waste water, bacteriological characteristics, physico-chemical characteristics, accumulation pond, final discharge point. Global Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol.3(1&2) 2004: 51-5