Diversity and Composition of Rhizosphere Mycobiota Associated with Medicinal Plants in the Kashmir Himalayas

The world of microorganisms has been divided into four main groups based on their importance to human life: therapeutically useful, those related to agriculture, dairy-related products, extremophiles, and industrially important microorganisms. The isolation and maintenance of pure cultures is a requirement for studying the biochemistry and physiology of microbes. The objective of the study was to identify and isolate rhizospheric soil fungi of medicinal plants that grow in the Kashmir Himalayas, especially Valeriana jatamonsi Jones, Lavatera cashmeriana L., and Artemisia absinthium L. The saprophytic and pathogenic fungi isolated were identified on the basis of cultural characteristics on different cultural media and morphological and microscopic characteristics. These fungi belong to Oomycetes, Zygomycetes, and Ascomycetes. Twenty eight fungal species, viz. Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. flavipes, A. terreus, A. fumigatus, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, F. acutatum, Pencillium chrysogenum, P. citrinum, P. expansum, P. lanosum, Chaetomium globosum, Alternaria alternata, A. solani, Rhizopus stolonifer, Paecilomyces victoriae, Mucor mucedo, Phytophthora cryptogea, Cladosporium cladosporioides, C. sphaerospermum, Curvularia lunata, Trichoderma harzanium, T. aureoviride, T. koningi, T. pseudokoningi, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, and Trichothecium roseum were isolated. Some of the novel fungi can be used for their antibiotic or antibacterial properties against pathogenic fungi, and the study will be useful in the crucial discovery of soil-based fungi associated to other medicinal plants.