ABSTRACT

A total of Five (5) different types of wood were used for this research. The used and unused wood samples were gotten from buildings that had been used after standard microbial screening. A total of six (6) bacterial and four (4) fungal species were isolated from the used and unused wood screened for microbes involved in deteriorating used wood samples. The total heterotrophic plate count ranged from 4.1 x 105 cfu/g to 7.6 x105cfu/g, the total coliform count ranged from 3.9 x105 cfu/g to 6.7 x105 cfu/g while the total fungal count ranged from 1.7 x105 cfu/g to 4.7 x105 cfu/g. The mean microbial counts from the unused wood samples. The total heterotrophic plate count ranged from 0.9 x 105 cfu/g to 6.1 x105 cfu/g, the total coliform count ranged from 2.9 x105 cfu/g to 7.9 x105 cfu/g while the total fungal count ranged from 0.7 x105 cfu/g to 2.1 x105 cfu/g. Esch1erichia coli had the highest percentage occurrence at (20%) while the least occurring bacterial isolates are Staphylococcus aureus (15%) each. The percentage of occurrence of bacterial isolates for unused wood samples revealed that Citrobacter sp. (36%) were more predominant while Bacillus (18%) had the least occurence. The percentage of occurrence of fungal isolates from used wood samples showed that Aspergillus niger, Rhodotorula sp.  and Mucor sp. had the highest percentage occurrence  at (33, while the least occurring fungal isolates were Aspergillus fumigatus at (5). On the other hand, the percentage of occurrence of fungi isolates from used wood samples revealed Aspergillus niger (67%) being predominant while Aspergillus fumigatus (33%) was least predominant.