Identification and Enumeration of Bacteria, Including Coliforms and Fungi in Mycotoxin Contaminated Maize Sold in Owerri, Imo State

ABSTRACT

This project estimates the microbial quality of maize (Zea mays) samples sold in eight (8) different markets in Owerri metropolis in Imo state. With the aim of Isolating and identifying bacteria and fungi associated with maize. The samples were cultured on Nutrient agar and potato Dextrose agar for 24 and 72hours respectively.The samples were subjected to Colonial ,microscopic and biochemical characterization. Standard microbiological and biochemical methods were adopted to determine morphological characteristics of the maize samples. The isolated fungi, bacteria and coliform that were predominant were Aspergillus spp, Saccharomyces spp, Mucor spp Bacillus spp, Enterococcus spp and Staphylococcus spp. The maize sample gotten from Akabo market, Owerri had the highest total bacteria count cfu/g (4.0X105). the maize sample gotten from Iho market had the highest total fungi count cfu/g (6.0×105) then for the coliform, the maize sample gotten from Iho market had the highest coliform count cfu/g (8.0×105) Detection of mycotoxin present in the samples could not be done due to unavailability of the relevant test required.