THE EFFECTS OF AVOCADO SEED EXTRACT ON SALMONELLA SPECIES

THE EFFECTS OF AVOCADO SEED EXTRACT ON Salmonella Species

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Introduction

• Background of the Study

Medicinal plants have continued to attract attention in the global research for effective antimicrobial agents that can combat resistant pathogens and render many conventional drugs obsolete in the treatment of infections (Cox, 1990).

Many important drugs used today are directly or indirectly derived from plants. The most import of these bioactive constituents of plants are : alkaloids, tannins, steroids, terpenoids and phenoic compound. Thus it is anticipated that phytochemicals with adequate antimicrobioal efficacy will be used for the treatment of the bacterial infections (Balandrin et al., 1985). The seed of Persea americana has a diverse application in ethanomedicine, ranging from treatment for diarrhea, dysentery, toothache, intestinal parasites to the area of skin treatment and beautification, its leaves have been reported to possess anti – inflammatory and analgesic activities (Adeyemi et al., 2002). The seeds are rich in tannins and carotenoids and tocopherols. Antioxidant activity and phenolic content of seeds of avocado pear was found to be greater than 70% (Soong et al., 2004).

Based on the organism in which the extract is to be tested, (Salmonella), it is widely distributed in nature, gaining entry to almost all aspects of the human food chain. As with other food borne pathogens, control of human infection with salmonella spp. depends primarily on creating and maintain a high standard of food hygiene by both the producers and the consumers. A lot of evidence shows that rising temperature and precipitation is conducive to bacterial growth and transmission. So, bacteria tend to multiply and grow better in warmer and wetter environments such as Salmonella sp. (Cox, 1990). Morbidity associated with illness due to salmonella continues to be the increase in some cases resulting in death. These situations have undermined reported cases of water borne infections, particularly typhoid fever. Its outbreak is sporadic among urban and rural communities.

Salmonella also poses a wide range of diseases such as enteric and typhoid fever, food poisoning, diarrhea, and gastro – enteritis (Lax et al., 1995). Salmonella has the ability of infection poultry flocks, via feed, water, hatching eggs and through environmental factors including birds, insects, rodents and farm workers. (Wray et al., 2002).

In conclusion, the activity exhibited by the extracts against Salmonella spp. will be carefully analysed.

• Aim and Objective of the Study

The following are the objectives of the study

• To know the morphological and biochemical characteristic of the bacterial isolate