This work was designed to evaluate the acute and subchronic toxicity ofE. pulcherrimamethanol extract. Mean lethal dose (LD50) and subchronic toxicity were determined using Lorke’s method to assess the effect of the extract on kidney and liver functions along histopathology assessment of the liver and kidney, respectively. The LD50determined was 3807.89 mg/kg both orally and intraperitoneally. The kidney function parameters indicated elevation of the serum urea above the normal value in both control and the group treated with 10 mg/kg of the extract with mean values of 7.92 ± 1.19 and 7.86 ± 1.14 mMol/L, respectively. The creatinine and electrolytes were within the normal values. The results of ALAT, ASAT, ALP, T protein albumin, and bilirubin in all cases were within the normal values. Kidney, liver function parameters, and relative organ weight were statistically insignificant across all groups. This shows that various concentrations ofE. pulcherrimaextract did not influence negatively the liver and kidney function parameters. Further studies are required to rule out the observed mild hepatic histological changes among a few members of the groups treated with 100 and 1000 mg/kg/day and any possible hepatoprotective and nephron-protective potential the extract may possess.
The aim of this study is to carry out preliminary investigation of bioactive compounds and bioautographic studies of whole plant extract ofEuphorbia pulcherrimaonEscherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus,Salmonella typhi, andPseudomonas aeruginosa. Tukey HSD test of hierarchy for the effect of different solvents crude extract on bacterial isolates indicates the methanol extract as the most bioactive. The Tukey HSD analysis also showed that the bioactivities of the crude extracts of the various parts ofEuphorbia pulcherrimawere part dependent and the whole plant was the most bioactive. The ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol extract of the whole plant ofEuphorbia pulcherrimahas been shown in this work to contain phytochemicals which have shown remarkable activities againstEscherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus,Salmonella typhi, andPseudomonas aeruginosa. The bioactivities against the test organisms were due to the combined effects of the compounds separated on TLC plates. Families of terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponin, and steroids that were detected in the extracts were identified by GC-MS. The various classes of phytochemicals in theE. pulcherrimaplant provided the antimicrobial potency of the plant.
The effects of spent mushroom substrate on the vegetative growth and yields of cowpea and tomato were determined. Autoclaved and unautoclaved spent mushroom substrates, mixed with loamy soil in ratio 1:9 were utilized with both composted and uncomposted spent mushroom substrates. Composted spent mushroom substrate mixed with loamy soil produced greater vegetative growth and yields of cowpea and tomato than uncomposted spent mushroom substrate, which in turn gave better results than loamy soil controls. Autoclaving was found to be unnecessary in sterilizing the spent substrate; loamy soil mixture as autoclaving caused biodegradation of some of the component nutrients, thus resulting in lower vegetative growth and yields of cowpea and tomato. Oven-drying only of the spent substrate; loamy soil mixture was found to confer enough sterilization.
Hybridization experiments were conducted in the screen house to study the inheritance of seed colour pattern in cowpea. Cowpea varieties of varying seed coat colour were used as parents for the investigation. Parental, F 1 and segregating F 2 populations were raised in the field and the study revealed that self colour pattern is dominant over other seed coat colour patterns. The study also revealed that several genes are involved in the control of seed colour patterns and that some of the genes may be allelic.
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