ABSTRACT
The study gives insights into the dairy industry in Nigeria, with an emphasis on the manufacture of kindirmo, a traditional dairy product, in the Okada community of Edo State. Kindirmo, also known as local yogurt, is a dairy treat popular among the Fulanis and Hausas of Northern Nigeria. It is produced by boiling raw (full fat) milk to 63oC, then chilling to 37oC and inoculating it with a starting culture generated from the previous batch, before leaving it to ferment overnight. This study examined the proximate analysis (moisture content, crude protein, crude fiber, ash content, and ether extract), biochemical, and microbiological examination of kindirmo made from fresh cow milk and marketed by Fulani women in the Okada community of Edo State. Forty (40) kindirmo samples were collected in Okada, Ovia North-East Local Government Area, throughout the months of January, February, March, and April and brought to the lab in ice packs. They were bulked individually and homogenized. Five replicates of the bulked kindirmo were sampled monthly and chemically evaluated according to normal AOAC (2016) protocols. Microbial analysis samples were submitted to the Duncan multiple range test in Genstat 12th Edition. Agar was produced according to manufacturer's instructions and placed into petri dishes, and samples for microbiological investigation were serially diluted using the standard plate process. Bacterial and fungal growth were seen in petri dishes after 24 and 48 hours, respectively. Microorganisms were sub-cultured in new petri dishes and then delivered to the lab for biochemical, cultural, and morphological evaluations. The proximate composition results showed that the pH ranged between 3.68-4.08%, moisture content varied non significantly between 79.87 and 81.10%. fat (0.97-1.20%) with non-significance (p>0.05) from Jan-Feb but were significantly different (p<0.05) from the fat value of kindirmo samples collected in Mar and April, ash (1.65-1.72%) with no significant difference (p>0.05), crude protein (10.50-12.25%) with non-significance (p>0.05) from Jan-Mar but were significantly different (p<0.05) from the cp value of samples collected in April, nitrogen free extract (5.58-6.84%) values showed non-significance (p>0.05) from Jan-Mar but were significantly different (p<0.05) from the value of samples collected in April, values for dry matter (18.89-20.13%) and total solids (10.55-10.58%) were not significantly different (p>0.05) across the four months. Over four months, fungus load ranged from 6.20 to 43 x 10-6 cfu/mL, while bacteria load ranged from 19.80 to 74.80 x 10-6 cfu/mL. Microbial examination results revealed the presence of both beneficial (Bacillus subtilis) and pathogenic (Acinetobacter and Aspergillus flavi) microbial species in the samples. Biochemical tests revealed that all fungal isolates had septate hyphae with the exception of Mucor, whereas Mucor and A flavi had spores, and all three fungi isolates lacked spore color and rhizoids. Cultural values for the bacteria isolates revealed Acinetobacter and Bacillus subtilis both had circular
