Abstract

Ramkumar R., Surendra S., *B. K. Nayak and A. Nanda

ABSTRACT

Studies on fungal diversity of diverse soils mostly trust on its fruitful implication to find bio-compounds for the purpose of bioprospecting. Fungi not only provide pharmaceutical products, such as antibiotics and other valuable substances, but also organic acids, enzymes, pigments and secondary metabolites which are employed in the food and fermentation industry. Many soil fungi are used as biological control agents for plant pathogens and insect pests. In our recent work, anthill soil samples of Pondicherry University campus were studied to record the incidence of fungal composition and their diversity. Aspergillus niger was found as the dominant one and it was followed by Penicillium chrysogenum and Sterile mycelia. One-gram anthill soil was found to harbor 5000 to 6000 fungal spores in our study. The results obtained clearly indicated that Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus awamori and Penicillium digitatum, Trichoderma were of high occurrence in anthill soil and other fungi like Fusarium, Cladosporium sp., Curvularia and Rhizopus were isolated with least numbers. Among the isolates, aspergilli, penicilli and white sterile mycelia were dominant in anthill soils due to their high sporulation capacity and high adaptability nature. The frequency of mycoflora in anthill soil were found to be regulated by many factors like humidity, vegetation, temperature, inorganic and organic materials, soil type and its texture.