PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTY AND WATER MINERALIZATION POTENTIAL Of Moringa oleifera Lam. SEED EXTRACT USED AS WATER PURIFIER IN NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND RESEARCH FARM NIGERIA

There is always water contamination in the form of microbial contaminants, organic and/or inorganic impurities though the level depends on the source and exposure. Consequently, the removal of these contaminants and impurities in water meant for farm animals is very fundamental to attain optimal animal productivity. Unfortunately, expensive and health-threatening reagents and chemicals are being used to purify water. Consequently, this study was designed to decontaminate well-water and borehole-water sources at Nasarawa State University Teaching and Research Farm using M. oleifera Lam. seed extract. Graded levels of the extract (0 g as the control, 1 g, 2 g, 3 g and 4 g) were added to 50 ml each of the water samples in separate containers. Samples of these mixtures were used in determining the microbial load and evaluating the macro minerals content of the two water sources. It was shown that the well-water sample was contaminated with microbes, but the population was tremendously reduced from 280 CFU/ml in control treatment to 28, 18, 14 and 8 CFU/ml at 1 g, 2 g, 3 g and 4 g M. oleifera Lam. seed extract treatments respectively. Similarly, the borehole-water sample had 186 microbes CFU/ml but was observed to decline to as low as 6 CFU/ml at 4 g M. oleifera Lam. seed extract treatment. More interestingly, it was discovered that macro mineral compositions of the treated water samples increased with increasing M. oleifera Lam. seed extract levels. Well-water Calcium value ranged from 47.3±0.50 to 61.2±1.66%, Magnesium (38.2±0.27 to 51.6±1.45%) and Potassium was between 17.4±0.11 and 30.1±2.26%. While Phosphorus varied between 8.25±0.15 and 12.6±2.2%, Sodium value was observed to be 32.2±0.08% in control and as high as 60.2±2.28% in 4 g M. oleifera Lam. treatment. Borehole-water sample Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium and Phosphorus values varied from 42.33±0.25 to 55.5±2.21%, 30.7±0.14 to 43.5±2.77%, 15.7±0.21 to 22.8±3.33%, 37.3±0.09 to 52.8±2.21% and 6.71±0.09 to 10.5±2.77% in that manner. This probably indicated that M. oleifera Lam. seed has antimicrobial property and water mineralization potency, which may enhance healthy farm animal production. Therefore, it could be an option to replace the expensive and health-threatening reagents as well as chemicals that are commonly used in most water treatment plants. However, this study only examined a farmstead scenario thus in-depth investigations are required for elucidation and to provide knowledge of probable side effect when such treated water is offered to farm animals.