Browsing by Author "Idowu Rahmat Eniola"

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    Preservation of Fermented Locust Beans (Parkia biglobosa) Using Essential Oil from Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)
    (2023) Saliu, Bolanle Kudirat; Idowu Rahmat Eniola
    Fermented locust beans (FLB), a highly nutritious condiment used to enrich foods in many parts of Nigeria has a very low shelf life of less than one week if unpreserved. Most of the methods used for preservation have presented limitations which were yet to be surmounted. The efficacy of preserving FLB using lemongrass essential oil (LGEO) was therefore investigated in this study. The essential oil was extracted from the leaves of Cymbopogon citratus and used to treat FLB at 2% (v/w). Untreated FLB served as the control. All samples were stored at 28±2 ºC and withdrawn periodically for organoleptic and microbiological analyses. Susceptibility of microbial isolates to LGEO and the effect of the treated FLB on the hepatic histology of rat were also investigated. Acceptance rating was high for the treated samples up to 33 days while ratings dropped from the 19th day in the untreated. A significant reduction of the bacterial load up to 70% due to treatment with LGEO was achieved. Thirteen bacteria were isolated with members of Bacillus species as the most dominant. All the isolates were susceptible to LGEO with diameter zones of inhibition ranging from 4.0±1 mm to 57.7±1.2 mm which compared favorably with the value (highest = 22.0±1.7 mm) for many of the standard antibiotics used. Histomorphology showed normal hepatic architecture in rats fed with LGEO-treated FLB. Results showed that LGEO can serve as a natural and safe preservatives of FLB.