Impact of seasonal variation on Physico-chemical characteristics and Vertical distribution of mycoflora of grassland ecosystem

Abstract

The present work aims at the study on the impact of seasonal variation on physico-chemical properties and vertical distribution of soil mycoflora of grassland ecosystem in different seasons from the depths of 0-5, 5-10, 10-15 cm. During the study, the effect of seasonal fluctuation was observed on the various parameters of the soil and vertical distribution of fungal population. The results revealed that the soil texture was sandy having sand 38.2%, silt 33.0% and clay 28.8%. Range of values of other parameters recorded were temperature (27 – 410C), pH (7.02 – 8.89), moisture content (7.95 – 24.32%), organic carbon (0.51 – 0.74%), organic matter (0.93 – 1.28%), nitrogen (1.29 – 1.70%) and phosphate (1.113 – 0.178%). The distribution of soil microfungi decreased with the increase in soil depth. In general,
the number of fungal species was highest during rainy season. About 24 different fungal species were isolated at different depths in three different seasons, among them Fusarium udum, Curvularia lunata, Penicillium citrinum, Rhizopus nigricans, Trichoderma lignorum and Trichoderma viride were common at all depths in all the seasons. Seasonal variation in physico-chemical soil parameters played a significant role in the occurrence, diversity, distribution and relative abundance of fungal species in the investigated soil samples.