Fungi

Issue of polythene pollution has evolved to become a major threat to global ecology because of polythene has strong resistance against degradation thus they remain in nature for very long time. A thinkable method to overcome this problem is bio-degradation by saprophytic fungi. Fungi from polythene decaying sites can initiate the de-polymerization of many polymers. In present study 10 saprophytic fungal isolates were grow on polythene by submerge fermentation technique under laboratory conditions andbiodegradation was determine in terms of weight loss in both low density polythene (LDPE) and biodegradable polythene.

Polythene is an important part of daily life, that’s why demand of polythene production is increasing worldwide each year but its final non-treated waste is making earth polluted. Polythene is becoming major threaten element for environment, seems lack of awareness and poor waste management in last two decade. Fungi are ubiquitously found as reported from in each and every habitat, even can survive in adverse environment. Biodegradation is a best way, if possible, to overcome this problem. Still fungal flora of decaying polythene waste is not much worked out. This piece of work was conducted in order to find out a microbial consortium for the biodegradation of polythene. Samples were collected from various water bodies of Jhansi and screened for their fungal flora. In present study 10 fungal strains were isolated from different natural decaying sites.

Fungi is one among the widely distributed kingdom on earth, most of the fungi survive as saprophyte. During the course of evolution one of a very special group of fungi has developed which was able to utilize keratin as a sole source of nutrition. Such group of organisms developed the skills to survive as the keratinolytic agent. The best keratinophilic molds belong to Microsporum, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton genera. In the present study, geographical distribution of keratinophilic flora was evaluated in soil of Jaipur, India. Total 50 soil samples from poultry farms, animal farms, barber’s dump, public parks and Sambhar lake were collected and screened by using hair baiting techniques on different keratinsbaits. Human hair was found to be most potent bait for growth of keratinophilic fungi than others. In the present study, 79% soil samples were recorded to be positive for keratinophilic flora. Trichophyton was most predominant genera.Our results indicated that soils of Jaipur are most suitable reservoirs for keratinophilic and related fungi