Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-2003

School/College

College of Science, Engineering, and Technology (COSET)

Degree Name

MS in Environmental Toxicology

First Advisor

Professor Mahmoud Saleh

Abstract

In previous years, artificially manufactured chemicals were the main source of pesticide. Though effective, some of these chemicals were notorious for causing environmental problems. However, in recent years, there has been a great interest in the use of naturally produced chemicals (phytochemicals) as a preferred source for pesticides. This is due to the fact that phytochemicals are very environmentally friendly and are known to be specific in their action. In this research, mango seed, plum seed, and nectarine seed were tested for bioactivity. Each seed was separated into pulp and shell and their chemical components extracted using solvent extraction. The extracts were then tested for antibacterial activity using three bacteria species Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Agrobacteria tume(aciens, antifungal activity using Aspergillus niger, and antioxidant activity using the free radical scavenging method. Results attained from this research agreed with most previous work done. Of all the samples tested, mango seed showed the most bioactivity. The least bioactive extract tested was the plum seed. None of the seeds tested showed any bioactivity against the fungi used. There should be more time spent on this research to identify the active components of these extracts and more bioactivity testing needs to be carried out on the seeds tested.

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