Two edible Nigerian macro-fungi -
Lycoperdon pusilum
and
Lycoperdon giganteum
were assayed in-vitro for their antimicrobial activities using water, methanol and ethanol as extractive solvents. Generally, the extracts were selectively active on few clinical pathogenic microorganisms. Ethanol was the best extractive solvent followed in order by methanol and water (P ≤ 0.05). The best inhibitory zone (24.0mm) was recorded in ethanol extract of
L. giganteum with inhibitory zone of 21.0mm. The least inhibitory zone, (4.0mm) was recorded with the aqueous extract of
L. pusilum against Proteus vulgaris. The best antifungal activity (17.0mm), was recorded in
L. giganteum extract against
Microsporum boulardii
. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the ethanolic extract was between 0.75 and 4.0mg/ml for bacteria, and between 9.00 and 13.75mg/ml for fungi. The extracts were found to be stable at temperatures up to 50 °C. As the temperature was increased from 60 to 100 °C, there was a significant decrease in stability of the extract. The implications of these observations are discussed.
