Quality assessment of baby food produced from cereals enriched with date palm

The objectives of the study were to formulate a composite blend (weaning food) based on locally available cereals and legumes, to chemically evaluate their nutrient values, and compare with those of a proprietary formula. The study is part of the effort to provide home-based complementary (weaning) foods that can be more cost-effective to the low-income families. Composite blends were formulated based on protein basis of the food commodities used: millet, guinea corn, yellow corn, soybean, groundnut and date palm. Standard procedures of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists were used to determine the proximate chemical composition. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer and ion chromatographic analyzer were used to determine the mineral elements composition. The overall results indicated that crude protein, lipid, fibre, ash, moisture, energy and carbohydrate contents of the composite blend were either comparable or higher than values in the proprietary formula. The researchers believe that complementary foods formulated from locally available food commodities have great potential in providing nutritious foods that are practical, food-based approaches, aimed at combating the problem of malnutrition among infants and children in Nigeria in particular, and developing countries in general

Biodegradation of endosulfan by mixed bacteria culture strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus

Endosulfan is a synthetic cyclodiene non-systemic insecticide and acaricide with both contact and stomach activity. Microorganisms play a key role in removal of xenobiotics like endosulfan from the contaminanted sites because of their dynamic, complex, and complicated enzymatic systems which degrade these chemical. In this study, endosulfan was degraded by indigenous bacteria strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The biodegradation process was carried out according to the method established by Buff et al., 1992. The results obtained showed that the bacterial strains efficiently degraded endosulfan by consuming more than 90 % of 40 mg/l of the minimal media within 7 days of incubation. Maximum biodegration by these two selected bacterial stains was observed at an initial pH of 8.0 at an incubation temperature of 30 °C. The findings from present study suggest that these bacterial strains could be potentially promising as a low cost effective technology in the biodegradation of endosulfan from the environment.Keywords: Endosulfan, Microoganisms, Biodegradation, Contamination and Soi

Determination of bacteria and trihalomethane compounds in sachet water commonly sold in Samaru, Zaria

Portable water is essential to humans and other forms of life. Poor treatment of drinking water results in the distribution of drinking water contaminated with bacteria and trihalomethane (THMs) compounds. Five brands of sachet drinking water were analyzed for coliform colony units and THM compounds concentration using Multiple Tube test and UV- spectrophotometer. The results showed the presence of Enterobacter which is a disease causing bacteria in all the water samples with W5 having the highest colony unit of 11. This was followed by W4 and W3 with five colony units and lastly W2 and W1 with less than two colonies. The concentrations of THMs were also determined with W5 having the highest concentration of 0.032 μg/cm3, followed by W2 with a concentration of 0.02 μg/cm3; W4 had a concentration of 0.011 μg/cm3, W1 a concentration of 0.01μg/cm3 and lastly, W3 having a concentration of 0.007 μg/cm3. All samples had THM compounds with concentrations above the national permissible limits. The presence of Enterobacter, a disease causing organism and the high concentration of THMs in the water samples, are a cause for concern as they pose as a risk to human health; indicating that the waters evaluated are not in any way fit for consumption.Keywords: Trihalomethanes, Coliforms, Pathogens, Sachet water, Bacteri

An assessment of the potential of plantain peel ash as a potash biocatalyst for producing reducing sugar from Phoenix dactylifera seed pit

Alkaline process is one of the most efficient pretreatments for hardwoods and agricultural residues; so demand for green renewable alternatives to inorganic KOH (potassium hydroxide) for hydrolysis of cellulose, production of soap and lubricating grease become imperative. The aim of this study is to assess the potential of plantain peel ash (PPA) as a Bioalkali for lignocellulosic pretreatment of Phoenix dactylifera. Date palm seed pit (DPSP) compared to synthetic KOH. From the study, ashing 5.0 kg of plantain peels gave 9.4% ash. The combusted plantain peel ash had K2O as the dominant oxide (54.2 wt %) using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, the concentrations of KOH extracted from PPA were quantified titrimetrically using 0.1M HCl. The chemical hydrolysis of DPSP was carried out using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design of experiment. The factors KOH/BioKOH concentrations (0.022–1.950%), Solid to liquid ratio (1:30-1:90 w/v), treatment time (15–60 min) at 121oC were optimized for the hydrolysis. The study indicated that the yield of reducing sugar from DPSP was 21.95 mg sugar/g substrate at 0.157% BioKOH, 30 min reaction time and 1:30 w/v solid: liquid ratio; while 29.35mg sugar/g substrate was generated using inorganic KOH at the same optimized conditions. There was no significant difference in the carbohydrate content of DPSP conversion to reducing sugar using BioKOH compared to inorganic KOH. Therefore, the use of renewable alkaline for hydrolysis of cellulosic waste to sugars, will increase the supply of sugar substitute for biofuel production, reduce cost of alkali and checkmate environmental hazard