Pathogenic fungal diversity in excreta of free living wild birds in agro ecosystems of Ludhiana

The excreta samples of six free living bird species (blue rock pigeon, rose ringed parakeet, common myna, house crow, cattle egret and red wattled lapwing) in the agroecosystems was screened for the presence of pathogenic fungi (moulds and yeast). The isolated moulds were identified to be Aspergillus fumigatus, A.niger, A. flavus, Alternaria sp. and Geotrichum sp. The prevalence and population density of these moulds varied across the bird species. A. fumigatus, A. flavus and Alternaria sp. were found to be commonest species occurring in 60% of the samples followed by A. niger (40%) and Geotrichum sp. (20%) in excreta of blue rock pigeon with highest population density of Alternaria sp. (followed by A. fumigatus, Geotrichum sp., A. niger and A. flavus. The house crow excreta showed 100% prevalence of A. fumigatus followed by A. niger (60%) and A. flavus and Alternaria sp. (20% each) and carried the highest population density of A. fumigatus and Alternaria sp. followed by A. niger and A. flavus. In cattle egret excreta, A. fumigatus showed 100% prevalence, but other moulds were isolated from only one sample with the highest population density of Geotrichum sp. followed by A. fumigatus, A. flavus, Alternaria sp. and A. niger. The single excreta sample revealed maximum population densities of only A. fumigatus in rose ringed parakeet; A. fumigatus followed by A. niger and A. flavus in red wattled lapwing; A. flavus as well as Geotrichum followed by A. fumigatus in common myna. The prevalence of A. fumigatus was highest (86.7%) followed by A. niger, A. flavus (46.7%), Alternaria sp. (33.3%) and Geotrichum sp. (20%) in all the analyzed excreta samples. The yeast Cryptococcus neoformans was isolated from fresh and dry excreta of blue rock pigeon and fresh excreta of house crow only. The prevalence of pathogenic fungi in the excreta of these bird species indicates that bird excreta may be a source of infection to human beings as well as to birds themselves.