Title : African black liquid soap: Antifungal and physiochemical properties
Abstract:
Compared to organic soaps, synthetic soaps are linked to health problems like toxicity and skin irritation. Thus, liquid soap was made, tested on four fungi, and its physicochemical properties were compared. It was also fortified with and without essential oils from two botanicals. Samples of dirty dish water were taken from four university cafeterias in Ibadan, Nigeria. Using the pour plate method and Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), the fungi were isolated from the water samples and their pure cultures were identified after seven days of room temperature incubation. After being made, the soap was split into two parts. Hydro-distillation was used to extract essential oils from recently harvested Ocimum gratissimum and Cymbopogon citratus leaves, which were then added to a portion of the soap. The fungi that were identified were grown PDA plates that were kept sterile, including varying amounts of the soap (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mL) both with and without the essential oils. Three duplicates of the experiment were conducted. As controls, fungi grown on PDA plates without soap were used. There was also a comparison of the soap's physicochemical characteristics with and without the essential oils. Using R programming (version 3.5), ANOVA was used to analyze all the data, and DMRT was used to separate the means. Penicillum sp., P. notatun, Apergillus niger, Candida albicans were the isolated fungi. At all volumes, the soaps demonstrated significant antifungal activity against all four fungi (p<0.05). The growth of fungal mycelia decreased. with the inclusion of soaps containing and excluding essential oils. When the soaps were added to the dirty dishes, they neither chemically denatured nor changed their strong cleaning power. Furthermore, there was no discernible difference between the soaps' physicochemical characteristics with and without essential oils. Acceptable physiochemical properties and antifungal activity were demonstrated by the organic liquid soap.
