Prevalence and morphological characterization of Aspergillus isolates of maize ear rot in Punjab
Article Main
Abstract
Among six fungal species viz.Aspergillus spp., Fusarium spp., Penicillum spp., Rhizopus spp., Trichoderma spp. and Alternaria spp. isolated from maize ear rot samples collected from five different districts of Punjab, the incidence of A. flavus was highest (42.15%) followed by Penicillium spp. (20.75%). The maximum frequency of A. flavus (57.10%) was found in Hoshiarpur district, closely followed by Jalandhar. In all, thirty nine isolates of Aspergillus spp. (33 isolates of A. flavus and 6 isolates of A. niger) were characterized morphologically. Twenty isolates of A. flavus producing sclerotia were of L-type strains having sclerotia diameter >400 ?m. Isolates of A. flavus
produced yellowish green, dark green and light green colonies and isolates of A. niger produced dark black colonies. Sterigmata in all the isolates of Aspergillus spp. were of uniseriate type. Based on colony diameter and growth rate per day all the 39 isolates of Aspergillus spp. were grouped into fast, medium and slow growing categories. Based on multivariate cluster analysis, the isolates of A. flavus were grouped into three distinct clusters each having 13, 17 and 3 isolates respectively.In the present study, Aspergillus flavus was found predominantly associated species with the maize ear rot. Further, the morphological variation observed within Aspergillus flavus and A. niger indicated the need for proper surveillance and monitoring exclusively for the prevention of moulds in maize produce in Punjab before it reaches the consumer.
Article Details
Article Details
Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Ear rot, Isolate, Maize
Amaike, S. and Keller, N.P. (2011). Aspergillus flavus. Annual Review of Phytopathology 49: 107-133.
Amrita, S. and Richa, S. (2014). Biocontrol and environmental studies on paper degrading mycolflora isolated from Sanganer area, Jaipur, India. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Science, 3: 948-956.
Anonymous, (2015). HTML color codes and names, retrieved from www.computerhope.com/htmcolor.htm
Atehnkeng, J., Ojiambo, P.S., Donner. M., Ikotun, T., Sikora, R.A., Cotty, P.J. and Bandyopadhyay, R. (2008). Distribution and toxigenicity of Aspergillus species isolated from maize kernels from three agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. International Journal of Food and Microbiology, 122: 74-84.
Baquiao, A.C., Oliveira, M.M.M.D., Reis, T.A., Zorzete, P., Atayde, D.D. and Correa, B. (2013). Polyphasic approach to the identification of Aspergillus sction Flavi isolated from Brazil nuts. Food Chemistry, 139: 1127-1132.
Bello, O.B., Ganiyu, O.T., Wahab, M.K.A., Azeez, M.A., Abdulmaliq, S.Y., Ige, S.A., Mahmood, J., Oluleye, F. and Afolabi, M.S. (2012). Yield and Disease Reactions of Quality Protein Maize Varieties in the Southern Guinea Savanna Agro-Ecology of Nigeria. International Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 2: 203-209.
Gautam, A.K. and Bhadauria, R. (2012). Characterization of Aspergillus species associated with commercially stored triphala powder. African Journal of Biotechnology, 11: 16814-16823.
Gxasheka, M., Wang, J., Tyasi, T.L. and Gao, J. (2015). Scientific understanding and effects on ear rot diseases in maize production: a review. International Journal of Soil and Crop Sciences, 3: 77-84.
Klich, M.A. (2002). Identification of common Aspergillus Species. CBS Utrecht, Netherlands, Pp. 116.
Kumar, M.R., Sudhakar, P., Santhoshi, M.V.M., Krishna, T.G. and Reddy, K.R. (2014). Cultural, morphological and pathological variability among isolates of Aspergillus flavus in Maize collected from different parts of Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Plant and Pest Science, 1: 9-16.
McClenny, N. (2005). Laboratory detection and identification of Aspergillus species by microscopic observation and culture: the traditional approach. Journal of Medical and Veterinary Mycology, 43: 125-128.
Navya, H.M., Naveen, J., Hariprasad, P. and Niranjana, S.R. (2014). Morphological, physiological and biochemical characterization of Aspergillus flavus isolates from Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). International Journal of Scientific Research, 5: 1777-1783.
Nayak, S., Dhua, U. and Samanta, S. (2014). Occurrence of aflatoxigenic A. flavus in stored rice and rice based products of coastal Odisha, India. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 3: 170-181.
Nicholson, P., Gosman, N., Draeger, R. and Steed, A. (2004). Control of Fusarium and Aspergillus species and associated mycotoxins on wheat and maize. In: Meeting the mycotoxins menace, Barug, D., Egmond, H.V., Lopez-Garcia, R., Osenbruggen, T.V. and Visconti, A. (Eds.). Wageningen Academic Publishers, Netherland, pp. 113-126.
Nyongesa, B.W., Okoth, S. and Ayugi, V. (2015). Identification key for Aspergillus species isolated from maize and soil of Nandi County, Kenya. Advances in Microbiology, 5: 205-229.
Odhiambo, B.O., Murage, H. and Wagara, I.N. (2013). Isolation and characterization of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species from maize and soil samples from selected counties of Kenya. African Journal of Microbiology Research, 7: 4379-488.
Reddy, K.R.N., Farhana, N.I., Wardah, A.R. and Salleh, B. (2010). Morphological identification of foodborne pathogens colonizing Rice grains in South Asia. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 13: 794-801.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) © Author (s)
