Browsing by Author "Gabriel Brian Othieno"

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    Optimizing Sweet Potato as a Substrate for Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO) Growth
    (Uganda Christian University, 2025-05-02) Gabriel Brian Othieno
    There is a potential of using sweet potato as suitable substrate for trapping, culturing and multiplying IMOs for improved crop and livestock production. However, there are limited studies on optimal concentration of sweet potato substrates for IMO growth and multiplication. This study focused on optimizing sweet potato as a substrate for indigenous microorganisms (IMO) growth. A randomized complete design (RCD) with three replicates was employed to test the five- sweet potato substrate concentration (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%). Data was collected on shape, color, texture, colony forming units (CFU) and colony size of bacteria and fungi in different concentrations of sweet potato substrates. This study showed that there was a significance differences (P-Value <.001) on CFU and colony sizes. Rice substrate concentration of 100% showed highest (7266667d) CFU of bacteria, while 100% concentration of sweet potato showed the lowest (4333333a). The largest colony size (3.333d) shown in 100% of rice whereas 100% concentration of sweet potato had the smallest size (1.167±0.0000a ) and all concentrations had only Gram positive bacteria. Sweet potato concentration of 60% had the highest number (6677778c) of CFU while 100% concentration of sweet potato showed the number (4100000a) Largest colony size (10.667c) of fungi was shown in 100% concentration of sweet potato whereas 100% of rice showed the lowest size (4.000a). This implies that the concentration having 20% sweet potato substrate supports good bacterial growth and 60% of sweet potato substrate supports fungal growth. Using sweet potato substrate as a supplement to rice can be used for growth and multiplication Indigenous micro-organisms for improved animal and crop production.