ABSTRACT

 The inhibitory activity of raw ogi liquors from six varieties of grains: white maize, yellow maize, white guinea corn, yellow guinea corn, red guinea com and millet were investigated using agar diffusion assay against selected pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus species, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurim, Shigella dysenteriae, Enterobacter species, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus species. For the maize grains the zones of inhibition from white maize and yellow maize ranged from 2.0-13.8mm and 2.0-14.0mm respectively while that of the guinea com ranged from 2.5-9.8mm for red guinea corn, 3.0-8.5mm for white guinea com and 2.0-9.0mm for yellow guinea com The diameter zones of inhibition for millet ranged from 2.5-1 0mm. The different liquors from both hot and cold water method of steeping had no inhibitory activity on the test fungi. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the different test bacteria ranged from 4.0-20mm. The inhibition of ogi liquor on most of these isolates was superior to that of some antibiotics such as cotrimoxine, nitrofurantoin, colistin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, nalidixic acid and augumentin with the exception of gentamycin which gave the highest zone of inhibition (20.0mm) on Salmonella typhimurim. The growth inhibition exerted by the different liquors on the ~ bacterium is due to the effect of the different metabolites such as organic acid, bacteriocin and hydrogen peroxide produced by the Lactobacilli, present in the ogi liquor. Ogi liquor could be administered to people with diarrhoea especially people found in rural areas where there are no health workers and clinics.