Abstract

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FROM SPIKES OF PINUS ROUXBURGHII GROWING IN HIMALAYAN REGION

Akanksha Bhardwaj Deeksha Sharma, *Pavan Kumar Agrawal

Abstract

Endophytes constitute a remarkably multifarious group of microorganisms ubiquitous in plants and maintain an imperceptible association with their hosts for at least a part of their life cycle. Their enormous biological diversity coupled with their capability to biosynthesize bioactive secondary metabolites has provided the impetus for a number of investigations on endophytes. Intention of present report is to provide studies on endophytic fungi, particularly on diversity of fungal endophytes from Pinus rouxburghii of Pauri, Garhwal forest. Different fungal taxawas isolated from spikes of Pinus rouxburghii. These are majorly Penicillium frequenta, Alternaria alternate, Geotrichium albida, Thielaviopsis basicola and two unidentified groups identified by using morphotypic methods of characterization. The colonization rate of fungal endophyte produced from different species is 0.121%. Endophytic fungi showed as Penicillium frequentaus showed maximum colonoization frequency (41.1%) followed by Thielaviopsis basicola (29.40%), Geotrichium albida (11.76%), Alternaria alternate (5.88%),) and two unknown fungi show colonization frequency as unidentified-1&2(5.88%).

Keywords: Endophytic fungi, morphotypic characterization, diversity, Pinus rouxburghii.