The Impact of Moringa Oleifera Seed Powder on Microbes in Water

The study was designed to determine the impact of Moringa oleifera seed powder on microbial load
in water during dry and wet season. Water samples were collected in sterile plastic bottles for six
months, along the Southern axis of river Kaduna(Kakuri). The impact of Moringa seed powder
extract on the microbes present in the water was determined by sequential reduction and Agar
plate techniques, colony forming units were counted using the Neubauer chamber. Colony
forming units per mL (CFU/mL) of each dilution was recorded/calculated using the formula:
CFU/mL = CFU*dilution factor 1/aliquot. The experimental design for the treatment was a
Complete Randomized Design (CRD), replicated three times. All data collected from this study
were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model of Statistical
Analysis System (SAS, 2001). M.oleifera seed extract, reduced bacteria load in the dry and wet
season, at the highest concentrations of 165.5mg/l and 900.5mg/l (79.2% and 77.4% reduction
was recorded). This shows that M.oleifera seed powder has antimicrobial properties and can be used
in reducing bacteria load in water.

Akinwore, A.O & Jok, I.I (2006). An Investigation of the potentials of Moringa oleifera seed as a
coagulation for suspended solids in Fish Culture Waste Water. The Nigerian journal of forestry
31st Annual Conference, pp26-30.
Alo, M.N., Anyim, C. & Elom, M. (2012). Coagulation and Antimicrobial activities of Moringa
oleifera Seed storage at 3oC temperature in turbid Water. Journal of Advance and Applied Science
Research 3,887-894.
American Public Health Association (APHA) (2005). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water
and Wastewater, 20thed. American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C
Arafat, M.G., O. Mohammed (2013). Preliminary Study on Efficacy of Leaves,Seeds and Bark
Extracts of Moringa oleifera in Reducing Bacterial Load in Water.International Journal of Advanced
Research4:124-130.
Berger, M.R. Habs, M. Jahan S.A and Schmah, S. (1984) Toxicological assessment of seed from
stenopetala, two highly efficient primary coagulants for domestic water treatment of tropical
raw waters. East African Medical Journal, 61:712-716.
Carson, C.F. & Hammer, K.A. (2010).Chemistry and Bioactivity of Essential Oils in Lipid and Essential
Oils as Antimicrobial Agents. pp 5-6
Dishua S. (2000). Water clarification using Moringa oleifera Gate Information Service, Germany.
Retrieved from http://www.gtz.de/gate/gate/ideafp(Accessed 10th May, 2017).
Donatus, B., Francis, J. O. & Umar, A.A. (2018). Water Quality Assessment and Mapping Using
Inverse Distance Weightel Interpolation: A Case of River Kaduna, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of
Technology 37(1), 249-261
Duncan D.B (1955). Duncan Multiple Range and Multiple F- Test. Biometrics, 11:1-5
Edeoga, H.O, D.E Okwuand B.O Mbaebie,(2005).Phytochemical constituents of some Nigerian
medicinal plants. African Journal of Biotechnology, 4(7), 685-688.
Faridi, A.A (2012). A Text Book of Environmental Microbiology; pp.190-262. New Delhi: Random
Publications
Folkard, G., Sutherland, J.,and Shaw, R.(1999)Water clarification using Moringa oleifera seed
coagulant: technical brief No: 60.Waterlines,17(4),15-18.
Ghebremichael K.A, Gunaratna K.R, Henriksson H, (2005). A simple purification activity assay
of the coagulant protein from Moringa oleifera seed. Water Resources 39:2338–2344
Jaime S.Colome, Raul.J.Cano, Mark A.Kubinski,DavidV.Grady(1986).Laboratory Exercises in
Microbiology. California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, pp 63-76
Ordonez RM, Ordonez AA, SayagoJ.E (2006). Fruit Peptides, Nieva MMI, Isla MI, , 27, 1187-1191.
Pritchard M, Makandawire T, Edmondson A, O’Neill J.G, Kululanga G (2010).Potential of Using
Plant Extracts for Purification of Shallow well Water in Malawi. Journal of Physics and Chemistry
of the Earth. 34:799-805
Savoia D, (2012). Plant –derived antimicrobial compounds: Alternatives to antibiotics. Future
Microbiology, 7:979-990
Ugwu S.N, Umuokoro, A.F, Echiegu E.A, Ugwuishiwu ,B.O. & Enweremadu C.C
(2017):Comparative Study of the Use of Natural and Artificial Coagulants for the Treatment
of Sullage(Domestic waste water).Journal of Cogent Engineering 4(1) pp 108-112
Zakky S.K, & Auta I.K, (2017). Physicochemical and Hydrobiological Studies of Algae Diversity
and Distribution in an Outdoor Polluted Water of River Romi.Katsina Journal of Natural and
Applied Sciences 6 (2) ISSN 2141-0755
Zakky S.K, Ezra A.G, Abdul Hameed A, NayayaA, J. (2016). Study of Heavy Metals and
Physicochemical Attribute of Romi River, Kaduna, Nigeria. International Journal of Fisheries and
Aquatic Studies; 4(1).