Abstract

Ukoima, H. N*, Wemedo, S. A and Ekpirikpo, A. O

Bacterial pathogens of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) were investigated. 50 samples each of leaves and seeds (healthy and diseased) were randomly collected and used for the analysis. Mean bacterial counts obtained were: healthy and diseased leaves; 8.26 x 103 and 5.9 l x l03 cfu/ml respectively; healthy seeds 7.96 x l03 cfu/ml and diseased seeds 1.1 4x 104 cfu/ml. The bacterial populations of the healthy and diseased leaves and seeds showed no significant difference at P > 0.05 (F – cal = 4.69; F – tab = 4.76). Nine bacterial genera isolated include Acinetobacter (7.69%), Aerococcus and Alcaligenes (3.84%), Bacillus (19.23%), Corynebacterium (34.61%), Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas (3.84%), Staphylococcus (7.69%) and Streptomyces (15.38%). Corynebacterium had the highest percentage occurrence and was isolated from both healthy and diseased samples. Some of the bacterial species such Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Pseudomonas are known pathogens of plants and were implicated as pathogens of red mangrove.