Year: 2013 | Month: June | volume 6 | Issue 2
Fungal Diversity in the Rhizosphere of Tropical Homestead and Plantation Crops of Kerala
Abstract: A study was conducted on the fungal diversity in the home gardens of three important districts of Kerala. The rhizosphere and rhizoplane samples were collected from different homestead crops representing diverse and distinct areas of coastal region (Ernakulum district), High range (Wayanad) and Dry region (Palakkad district) districts of Kerala. Fungal population was highest (82 x103 cfu g-1 of soil) in black pepper (Wayanad) followed by coconut (70 x 103 cfu g-1 of soil) in Ernakulam and 22 x103 cfu g-1 of soil in banana (Palakkad). There was greater diversity of fungi in the homesteads of Ernakulam, Wayanad and Palakkad districts. In all the three districts surveyed, Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. were predominant fungi in most of the crops and or locations, even though other fungi were also recorded. However, there functional diversity needs to be studied and harnessed in order to assess the beneficial effects and relative efficiency on the host plants.
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