Identification of Fungal Isolates from Soils of Rice and Napier Grass

Microbial diversity of cultivated soil is the key resource for maintaining the functional capacity of agricultural and natural ecosystem. The research aimed to study the prevalence of soil fungi from the soils of rice and napier grass fields. Soil samples were collected from the fields of rice in flooded condition and napier grass in the upland condition at the University farm. Soil fungi were cultured on RB media through the serial dilution method. A total of 13 isolates were cultured, in which 11 from the soil collected from rice cultivated field and 2 from napier grass field. Seven out of 11 isolates collected from rice and 2 from napier grass were selected and identified through the morphological characters such as colony color, mycelium diameter, color and segmentaiton, spore size and color. Mycelium growths were examined on the PDA and RB media. Fungal isolates collected in this study were morphologically identified/ characterized as Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. terreus, A. carbonarius, A. nidulans, Alternaria sp., Penicillium and Talaromyces. Fungal species differed among the soils were discussed.