+44 330 818 7254Akpomie, O.O., Ejila, A., Okocha, M.D. and Opara, N.E.
The effects of oil extracts of seeds of three varieties of Cocos nucifera were investigated on bacterial and fungal isolates from exposed “wet blues” of unfinished leather. The oil was extracted using soxhlet extraction hexane. The bacterial isolated from the “wet blues” were Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis, while the fungal isolates were Aspergillus niger and Penicillum chrysogenum. The effect of the oil extracts on the isolates were compared with that of organotin compounds. All the oil extracts and organotin compounds treated samples had very low microbial load. The sample treated with orange dwarf coconut oil had the least microbial load which was still minimal at the end of the experiment (0.39±0.029 X 106 CFU/g). The zones of inhibition of the organotin compounds on S. aureus was a bit higher than those of the oil extracts, though not significant. DBT was more effective on P. aeruginosa with a zone of inhibition of 7.6mm ± 0.45; yellow dwarf oil had a zone of inhibition of 4.5mm ± 2.50; Orange dwarf oil 2.5 ± 0.50. Green dwarf oil and Yellow dwarf oil were quite effective against E. coli with zones of inhibition of 10.3mm ± 1.65 and 13.5mm ± 0.65, respectively. ODO and YDO had no effect on A. niger. ODO, GDO, DBT and TPT were effective against P. chrysogenum with zone of inhibition of 7.0mm ± 3.0, 13.5mm ± 1.50, 9.8mm ± 0.41 and 9.3 ± 1.2, respectively. Bacillus species was susceptible to ODO but resistant to GDO and YDO. The oil extracts showed good antimicrobial activity against the organisms, so they can be used as an alternative to organotin compounds in the preservation of leather materials
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