Purpose:
To evaluate the microbial load on 17 randomly selected
plant samples from 60 ethnobotanically collected
medicinal plants from five local markets in Abeokuta,
Ogun State, Nigeria.
Method:
The pour plate method was used to cultivate serially
diluted portions of the medicinal plant samples
investigated. Enumeration of bacteria was carried out on
nutrient agar (NA) while that of fungi was effected on
Sabouraud agar (SA).
Results:
The identified microbial isolates include 12 bacterial
and 6 fungal genera. The mean heterotrophic bacteria
counts of the different herbal samples ranged from 1.3 ×
105 cfu/g (Cnestis ferruginea) to 6.7 × 106
cfu/g (Daniellia oliveri), while total fungal propagule
counts ranged from 0.0 × 101 cfu/g (Terminalia
superba, Cola gigantea, Rauwolfia vomitoria, Zingiber
officinale and Argemone mexicana) to 7.1 × 106
cfu/g (Nesogordonia papaverifera). The synopsis and
frequency (prevalence rate) of microbial species
isolation showed that Bacillus spp. (82.4 %) and Mucor
spp. (47.1 %) had the highest prevalence rates among
bacteria and fungi, respectively.
Conclusion:
The findings from this study emphasized the need for
constant quality assessment of herbal drugs on sale in
order to ensure the production of therapeutic products
suitable for human consumption.
Keywords:
Microbial load; Medicinal plants; Local markets;
Abeokuta; Nigeria
