ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the possible use of local food products to formulate culture media for microorganisms and test the ability of a myxomycete (Stemonities axifera) as a biological control agent. The five food products used are, Manihot esculenta Crantz (cassava), Zea mays Linn (corn), Musa paradisiaca (plantain), Dioscora rotundata Lam (yam) and Colocasia esculenta Schott (cocoyam).They were used to formulate culture media along sides with two conventional media, malt extract agar (MEA) and potato dextrose agar (PDA). The medium on which the best growth was recorded was Zea mays Linn (corn). This was the medium used to test the possibility of using the myxomycete (Stemonities axifera), as a biological control agent. The various formulated media where prepared using the standard measurement. Agar Agar was used as a solidifying medium. The diameter of each colony on the Petri dishes was taken every 24 hours up to 96 hours (the fourth day) from inoculation. At the end of the experiment, the medium prepared from Corn was the best among all the media (both formulated and conventional media). After inoculating the myxomycete (Stemonites axiphera) and Penicillium roqueforti, on the medium prepared with corn, it was observed that the myxomycete (Stemonities axifera) suppressed the growth of the Penicillium sp. This is an indication that this species of myxomycetes can be used as a biological control agent, which is a great asset in disease control both of plants and animals since Penicillium roqueforti species has been implicated as a pathogen of plants and animals.