ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROORGANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH BIODEGRADATION OF THE AFRICAN WALNUT SHELLS USING CHICKEN DROPPINGS AS INNOCULUM

Abstract

Microbial analyses were carried out on the shell of the edible nuts of African walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum). This study was aimed at determining the microbial load of boiled and raw African walnut shell and chicken dropping which can be used as inoculums in biodegradation process in order to solve the problem of agro waste pollution in the environment. The nuts were sorted and washed with tap water to remove flesh residues and other contaminants and divided into two lots. The first lot was boiled for 1.5 h. The second lot was used raw; the raw nut and the boiled nut were then unshelled and the shells were dried at 60◦C for 5days in the oven. The dried shells were grind and analyzed. Bacterial and fungal evaluations of the shell from nut were done using the agar diffusion technique with serial dilutions of the grind shell and the same process for chicken droppings. Forty Grams (40g) of the grind walnut shells were weighed and put in a sterile cover bowl and 20ml of sterile distilled water was added to the samples under a sterile condition and was gently mixed with sterile spatula. The grind walnut shell and chicken dropping was done in Ratio 1:1 and 2:1. Microorganisms were isolated and identified. The microbial analysis revealed that the boiled shell accommodate a large number of microorganism compared to that of raw. The result show that the microorganisms present in the walnut shell were increasing as the day is increasing and latter begins to decrease.