Antimicrobial Activity of Extract from the Abdominal Gland of African Weaver Ants (Oecophylla longinoda) on the Microorganisms Isolated from Cocoa Pods

Cocoa is a very important cash crop but the advent of the black pod disease caused by Phytophthora megakarya has greatly reduced the revenue generated by farmers. P. megakarya black pod is the single most important fungal disease of cocoa which has Cacao, a species in the genus Theobroma, is the most economically important species in this genus (Acebo-Guerrero 2012). It is an upright, evergreen tree that grows up to 15 metres, but it is usually kept below 5 metres to make for easy harvesting. The tree has a polymorphic characteristic -its seedling grows to between 1 to 2 m in height as a single stem after which it separates into the jorquette (a whorl of lateral-growing 3-5 branches). Two to three years after planting, flowers begin to grow from pads or cushions beneath the bark. Under optimal conditions these pads will continue to produce flowers for 60 to 100 years. Some self-incompatible cacao varieties usually require cross-pollination, while others that are completely self-compatible do not need to be cross-pollinated.