الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract One hundred bee pollen samples were purchased from the local market in Egypt. Detection of the microbial contamination was performed. The evaluation of contamination of the tested bee pollen samples was done on nutrient and Sabouraud{u2019}s agar for bacteria and fungi, respectively. Identification of bacteria was done by biochemical methods and API. Also, morphological and microscopical identification of fungi was carried out. The most frequent contaminants were gram positive rods followed by gram negative rods and gram positive cocci for bacteria. The order of fungal contaminants was Penicillium species followed by Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus ochracueus. Among the fungal species isolated three Aspergillus flavus strains were aflatoxin (B1) producers. The microbial count decreased by the increase of the radiation dose used. The most radio-resistant bacterial strains were identified as Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis as well as, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium expansum and Penicillium corylophilum for the fungal strains. The susceptibility of the tested microorganisms to some antibiotics discs and antifungal agent were investigated. Only Bacillus subtilis was susceptible to all the antibiotics under test and resistant to nystatin. Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger were resistant to all tested antibiotics and susceptible to nystatin. The antimicrobial activity of bee pollen show that the bee pollen extract has the potential to be used as an antimicrobial agent against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. Bee pollen has similar effect to ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and also to chloramphenicol against Candida albicans and has an antifungal activity similar to the antifungal agent nystatin against Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger |