ABSTRACT

The microbiological and nutritional status of palm wine from Umudike environments was evaluated. About 20 samples of palmwine were used in this study. The total viable count of the bacteria from plamwine shows higher count at PLM10 (6.0x103cfu/ml) while lowest count was observed at sample PLM8 (2.4x104cfu/ml), higher counts were observed in PLM5while the yeast count has higher count at PLM 20 (2.6x103cfu/ml) while lowest count was recorded PLM3 (0.90x104cfu/ml). Five (5) microorganisms were isolated and they include; Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus spp., Bacillus cereus, Streptococcus spp and Escherichia coli.. Two (2) yeasts were isolated for this study and they include; Saccharomyces cerevisae and Candida sp  The temperature and pH of the palmwine the highest temperature (25oC) and pH (6.41). Other samples studied had other degrees of temperature ranging from 21oC -22oC. The proximate composition of the palmwine isolates showed that the sample are low in carbohydrate (1.01±0.01 - 2.12±0.02), crude protein (0.51±0.03 - 0.90±0.01), lipid (0.01±0.00 - 0.07±0.04), ash (0.31±0.11 - 0.78±0.06) and crude fibre contents (0.21±0.04 - 0.37±0.01). The moisture of the palwine was higher for all the samples ranging from 96.35±0.01 - 98.74±0.01. The vitamins in the palmwine were higher ranging from 21.48±0.02 - 22.76±0.08 for vitamin A and 6.60±0.80 - 7.42±0.02 for vitamin B. The mineral composition of the palmwine ranges from (3.24±0.28 - 3.85±0.02) for calcium; (30.02±0.00 - 31.35±0.01) for magnesium, (3.10±0.33 - 3.85±0.02) for iron; (0.25±0.04 - 0.31±0.03) for zinc and (0.28±0.08 - 0.48±0.08) for copper. The antimicrobial. The antimicrobial density test, Staphylococcus aureus was inhibited by all the antibiotics used in this study while E. coli, B. cereus, Streptococcus spp and Lactobacillus spp showed other degrees of resistance and susceptibility.  Palm wine and its distillate are important solvent in herbal medicinal administration. Therefore, there is need to promote the quality of these products to enhance their nutritional and health benefits as widely consumed in this part of country.