ABSTRACT

The continuing success of a biotechnologist in the search of microbial metabolites as antimicrobial compounds is useful in combating human, animal and plant diseases for stimulating 'the belief that microorganisms constitute an inexhaustible reservoir of compounds with pharmacological, physiological, medical or agricultural applications. Increasing antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens necessitate the need to search for new antimicrobial agents. In view of this, ten soil samples were collected from various sites around the University hostels and screened for potential antibiotic producing microorgansms. Ten-fold serial dilutions of the soil suspensions made in sterile distilled water were plated on Nutrient and Sabouraud agar plates by spread plate method. The soil samples yieded eight isolates. Two of these isolates (FHI3 and FH8I) showed evidence of antibiotic production by inhibiting the growth of some of the test organisms namely: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213 (zone of inhibition 15mm) and Mycobacterium magmatism ATCC14468 (zone of inhibition 17mm). This indicated that the antibiotic producing organisms isolated from soil samples analyzed in this study had antibiotic activity against Gr m positive and Gram negative bacteria. In this preliminary work, potential antibiotic producing microorganisms were not recovered in large quantity around the University Hostels.