Abstract

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Management of wastes especially agro wastes has been a major problem experienced in developed and developing countries. There is a serious need to convert these agro-wastes into useful forms. This study was undertaken to determine the growth rate and susceptibility pattern of fungi using agro-waste formulated media. Sweet Potato and Watermelon peel wastes were used to formulate SPDA and WDA media respectively and their performance compared with Potato Dextrose agar (PDA). The proximate analysis of the peel wastes was done using standard methods. The methods used for fungi isolation, cultivation and susceptibility testing were spread plate, agar plug diffusion and agar well diffusion techniques respectively. Solvent extraction of scent leaf and Ginger was done using ethanol and the extracts were used for the susceptibility testing. The result of the proximate analysis of the agro wastes revealed the presence of carbohydrate, protein, crude fibre, moisture and ash. Nine fungal species were isolated and used for growth rate and susceptibility testing. The result showed that PDA (0.14- 0.44h-1) performed better than the formulated media (0.14- 0.18h-1 and 0.13-0.22h-1)in growth rate of the isolates with a significant p value of 0.0020, while the formulated media(14- 41mm and 14-34mm; 0-25mm and 0 25mm) performed far better than the PDA(0-15mm and 0-16mm)in susceptibility testing with p values of 0.0028 and 0.0007 for Scent leaf ethanol extract and Ginger ethanol extract respectively. Thus the formulated media can be utilized as alternative cheap sources of culture media for antifungal screening and other mycological assays.

Keywords: Agro-waste, Susceptibility testing, Sweet potato peeldextrose agar, Waste management and Watermelon peel dextrose agar