Aquatic fungal diversity of Pabbar Giri and Ghaggar rivers of Himachal Pradesh and physiological studies on some aquatic hyphomycetes

Abstract

The work included in this thesis is a result of detailed taxonomic investigation carried out in three rivers of Himachal Pradesh. The taxonomic studies on these fungi have resulted in the identification of 51 aquatic fungi, belonging to 31 genera. Novelty of this study is the discovery of one new species. Besides, 11, 18 and 21 species have been reported for the first time from India, North-Western Himalayas and Himachal Pradesh respectively. Physiological behaviour of three aquatic fungi viz. Geotrichum europaeum, Miricatena prunicola and Speiropsis pedatospora with respect to physical factors (temperature, H-ion concentration and days of incubation) and the effect of carbon and nitrogen sources on growth and enzyme production. The results of physiological experiments determined the importance of production of ligninolytic enzymes in fungi. The ethyl acetate extract of the three different aquatic fungi yield phenolic compounds, fatty acids, alcohols, esters and alkaloid compounds during GC-MS analysis. newline