Microfungal Diversity of Botanical garden

Botanical gardens are hub for the diverse fungi and the present study deals with the micro-fungal investigation in the botanical garden of RMG Arts & Science College, Nagbhid. This study has been conducted for a period of two moths employing petri plate exposure method. Total 537 fungal colonies belong to 13 genera and 24 species were recorded. Deuteromycota dominated with more than two third of total count of colonies, representing a largest contributor followed by Ascomycota. Cladosporium was observed to be the most dominant contributor followed by Fusarium, Alternaria, Curvularia and Aspergillus. The fungal isolates like Nigrospora, Penicillium, Bipolaris, Rhizopus and Torula were recorded at moderate count. Aspergillus dominated with highest species diversity i.e.8 species; Alternaria, Curvularia and Fusarium represented with 2 species each while other genera had single species. Diversity index like Shannon Diversity Index, Simpson Diversity Index and Margalef index showed that the maximum colony count was recorded in the month of February while the maximum diversity of fungal taxa was observed in the month of January.