Micro-Population of Microorganisms Involved in “akamu” Production Using Sorghum and Maize

Student: Miracle Deborah Nwankwo (Project, 2025)
Department of Microbiology
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra State

Abstract

The fermented sorghum or maize starch known as Ogi in Yoruba and Akamu in Igbo is a popular staple food. It is a traditional weaning food used mainly in western part of Africa. Microbes were isolated from steep water. And the steeped water were labelled respectively according to the number of days and interval of hours (6h) during the fermentation process. The assessment of microbial count was critically for collection, isolation and identification and antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates from the samples. The microbes were isolated using Nutrient Agar, Esoine methylene Blue Agar, Macconkey Agar, MRS Agar, Cetrimide Agar, Mannitol Salt Agar, mainly for bacterial growth and Sabraud Dextrose Agar for fungal growth. The critical points for contamination of Ogi or Akamu using sorghum grain (red variety botanically Sorghum bicolor ) during production could be through water that was used for soaking, period of milling of the fermented sorghum grains and Muslin cloth used in sieving process. Proper safety measures and hygienic manufacturing practices could ensure quality of Ogi / Akamu that would be free from all these microbial contaminations.

Keywords
sorghum akamu water production maize fermented mainly microbes isolated during
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