MICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY AND BIODEGRADABILITY TO TAXODIUM DISTICHUM SEED OIL

Abstract

Isolates of two fungal species from rotted orange fruits as well as standard bacterial cultures were screened for their susceptibility and ability to metabolise Taxodium Distichum ( bald cypress) seed oil over a twelve- day period by adding the oil to fungal spore or bacterial culture suspension. Under these conditions, all tested strains metabolized the oil in variable rates ranged from 8 to 100% . The proportions of the oil component degraded differed widely with the microorganism. The highest degradation was observed with Aspergillus and Penicillium species (100%), certain other standard cultures, notably of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bacillus subtilis metabolized, about 15-30%, of the oil. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the oil revealed higher efficacy against Candida albicans but limited towards Gram - positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and B. subtilis). No significiant activity was noted against Gram - negative bacteria and true fungi. Microbial degradability of T. distichum oil is found to be inversely proportional with the oil bio-activity complete resistance followed by complete degradation exhibited by true fungi to bald cypress oil. By the end of the biodegradation period, antimicrobial activity of the resulted products exhibited no significant difference than that of the substrate. Thus , cultures that were established within 12 days failed to yield significant oil biodegraders. The estimation of the oil was carried out by Gas chromatography (GC) and GC mass spectrum (GC-MS)