Therapeutic and Antimicrobial Effects of Fermented African Walnut Enriched with Carrot on Shigella dysenteriae Infected Wistar Albino Rat

The natural and inoculation fermentation of carrot-enriched and non- enriched walnut was carried out for 5 days. Freshly prepared Bacillus subtilis b17a, Lactobacillus lactis strain SFL8, and consortium of both organisms were used as starter cultures. The invitro antimicrobial assay of fermented samples on Shigella dysenteriae was carried out using agar well diffusion method. The therapeutic properties of fermented walnut were studied in S. dysenteriae infected wistar albino rats by checking for the physical appearance and haematological parameters of blood of wistar albino rats. Unfermented African walnut had the highest diameter zones of inhibition on S. dysenteriae. Fermented broth cultures had the highest diameter zone of inhibitions on S. dysenteriae on the third day of fermentation and among the fermented samples, African walnut fermented with L. lactics had the highest zone of inhibition on S. dysenteriae (26.3 ± 0.19). Invivo therapeutic assay revealed that the groups of rat orogastrically dosed with S. dysenteriae had albino rats with symptoms of shigellosis 24 hours after infection. Following treatment, all the groups infected and treated on the third day had fully recovered except the groups treated with unfermented walnut, walnut fermented with B. subtilis and walnut fermented with L. lactics. Also, the white blood cell (WBC) of group treated with unfermented walnut (12.47 ± 0.13h × 109/L) was within the normal range (6.6-12.6 × 109/L) of WBC for an apparently healthy rat but was significantly higher when compared with the groups treated with fermented samples. Findings from this study have justified the use of the seed, bark and leaves of African walnut in traditional medicine to ease dysentery and other diseases.