Diversity of fungal endophytes in a few medicinal plants of fertile areas of Tamil Nadu

Endophytic fungi are important biotechnological tools for exploring the diversity of endophytic fungi and their species richness in different ecosystems. Endophytic fungi associated with three medicinal plant species in the region of Delta in Tamil Nadu that is, the Erythrina variegata (coral tree) from Fabaceae, Vitex negundo (Chinese chaste tree) from Lamiaceae, Melia dubia (Malabar neem) from Meliaceae were studied. These endophytic fungi are isolated in the delta region, and the fungal colonization is rich in tropical lands. We aimed to identify endophytic fungi using morphological taxonomy; to explore the richness estimated diversity, and colonization frequency in a few medicinal plants. Fungal endophytes were isolated using leaf surface sterilization standard methods. One hundred fifty plant leaf segments are used in endophytes isolated in each plant. A total of three plant samples were analyzed and 293 endophytes were isolated from 450 leaf segments. The 16 species and 13 genera were present in Erythrina variegata 15 species and 12 genera were present in Vitex negundo and 14 species and 14 genera were present in Melia dubia. We thus identified 48 endophytic fungi species that were isolated from these plant tissues. In total, 26 endophytic fungal species strains belonging to Ascomycetes (03), Coelomycetes (04), Hyphomycetes (17), sterile forms (02), taxa were obtained. There results of detection and identification of endophytic fungi, different endophyte diversity and colonization frequency of a few medicinal plants in the Delta region were recorded. published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES