Water, fecal and swab samples of poultry walls and cages collected from various poultry farms located in five towns and villages in Ovia North east local government area of Edo State, Nigeria, were screened for the presence of Salmonella spp and antibiotic resistance pattern of the isolates. The prevalence rates recorded shows that Salmonella was isolated from all the sources investigated with varying rates which ranged from 27% for poultry cages to 80% recorded for fecal samples. Overall prevalence rates based on location ranged from 48% to 76%. Result of the resistance pattern of the Salmonella isolates from the various farms reveal that 62% of total 304 isolates tested were resistant to one or more of the antibiotics used with no significant difference in resistance pattern between the locations. Resistance to ampicillin appears to be the most common and was the highest (43%), followed by trimethoprim-sulphamethozazole (39%) and streptomycin (29%), with cephalexin (9%) and gentamycin (10%) recording the least resistance. Worrisome however is the fact the fluoroquinolones which are comparatively new, expensive and could be drug of choice should there be an outbreak, showed some significant degree of resistance (17%). The findings from this study present a potential health problem and are suggestive of the extent of misuse of drugs in medical and veterinary practice in Nigeria.

Non-target effect of pesticide on soil organisms is an important area of ecotoxicology, due to their roles in ecosystem sustainability. Thus, the effects of an organochlorine (endosulfan) and a synthetic pyrethroid (cypermethrin) pesticide formulation on soils' culturable microbial population were investigated. The study was carried out on loamy sand soil sample types collected from Ondo State, Forest Reserve, Owena, Nigeria. Pesticide application rates in the range of half of the normal field rate (0.5FR), the normal field rate (FR), two times the normal field rate (2FR), four times the normal field rate (4FR) and eight times the normal field rate (8FR) were applied to the soil microcosm design in the laboratory; while the untreated soil serve as control. The experiment set up was completely randomized in three replicates and soil samples were collected from each of the set up at 5 days interval over 35 days period of exposure for analysis. The pour plate technique was used for the enumeration of bacterial and fungal colonies on nutrient agar and potato dextrose agar respectively. The results indicated that both pesticides had effects on the population of bacterial and fungal counts of the soil samples with significant (p < 0.05) adverse effect observed at the treatment rate above the normal field application rate. At lower application rates (0.5FR, FR and 2FR), temporary inhibitory effect on bacterial and fungal population were observed. The progressive increase in inhibitory effect with corresponding increase in concentration of endosulfan and cypermethrin were noticed.

The agricultural activities had tremendously benefitted from the application of pesticides. However, various objectionable practices among farmers had exposed the soils, plant and its community of organisms to different level of toxicity. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of seed coating agents on germination rate, shoot length, leave numbers and population of rhizobial and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) of beans plant (Vigna unguiculata). The mesocosm experiment was carried out in a greenhouse using a randomized block design with five replicates over the period of 5 weeks. The seed coating agents used were Imidadoprid-Thiram powder formulations and black powdery waste from dry-cell batteries. The seed coating agents were applied at the recommended rate value of 1.25 g/kg and at the rate that double the concentration of recommended field rate (2.50 g/kg). The application of Imidadoprid-Thiram at recommended rate and spent battery waste at the same rate did not have any significant effect (p > 0.05) on the germination of V. unguiculata as compared to the control. However, significant reductions (p < 0.05) in germination were observed in the seed coated with both coating agents at the rate above the recommendation value. Likewise, no significant effect (p > 0.05) of seed coating agents was observed on the average number of leaves of growing V. unguiculata seedling but significant reductions (p < 0.05) were observed in the shoot length of all the treated seedling as compared with control. Both Imidadoprid-Thiram and spent battery wastes were observed to have a significant negative (p < 0.05) effect on the average numbers of both rhizobia and PSB counts in the rhizosphere region of V. unguiculata, with effects more pronounced in higher doses.

Medicinal plants have been intensively screened for their bioactivity in order to treat various diseases in human. This study was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of Sida acuta leaf extracts against selected wound microbes. The plant extracts were obtained sequentially using n-hexane, aqueous and acetone respectively in order of increasing polarity. The extracts were tested for their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, Acinetobacter baumannii, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using agar-well diffusion method. The sensitivity of the test organisms to the extracts was represented by zones of inhibitions (mm) at different concentrations. There was corresponding increase in the zones of inhibitions (mm) on the test organisms as the concentration of the extracts increased from 64 mg/ml – 512 mg/ml. Among the plant extracts, the aqueous extract of Sida acuta leaf revealed significantly higher zones of inhibitions (mm) from 7.50±2.12 - 25.00±1.40 on all isolates. This was closely followed by the acetone extract while the n-hexane extract produced the lowest zones of inhibitions (mm) on all the test organisms except for Acinetobacter baumannii which has 9.80±0.42 at the concentration of 512 mg/ml. Results obtained on the phytochemical analyses of the aqueous and acetone extracts revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, alkaloids and flavonoids. Hence, the antimicrobial effects of Sida acuta leaf extracts has been revealed in this study, therefore its controlled use should be encouraged in the treatment of wounds and other infections caused by these microorganisms.   Keywords: Antimicrobial properties, Isolates, Phytochemical analyses, Sida acuta