Abstract

OCCURRENCE OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI IN LEAVES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM CENTRAL REGION OF MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA

Rajesh Kumar Tenguria and Anand Firodiya

ABSTRACT

A total of 496 colonies were isolated from 200 segments of 10 diverse plant species leaves samples from central region of Madhya Pradesh. They belonged to 20 species, where ascomycetes (43 colonies, 02 genera), coelomycetes (110 colonies, 4 genera), hyphomycetes (292 colonies, 9 genera) and sterile mycelia (51 colonies). The isolate Alternaria alternata was most prominent followed by Aspergillus terreus and Pestalotiopsis sp. isolated from four to six different plant species and Phoma sp. was the second most isolated species. Among 10 plants, Cissus quadrangularis yielded the greatest fungal biodiversity and 11 different endophytic fungal taxa were obtained from its leaves. Relative frequencies was maximum in Aspergillus followed by Alternaria, sterile mycelia and least in Epicoccum of different endophytic taxa isolated from 10 plant leaves species samples.

Keywords: Endophyte, Endophytic fungi, Biodiversity, ascomycetes, hyphomycetes, Alternaria alternate.