Diversity and antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi from Combretum sp. collected in monsoon from three regions

Abstract

Aerial tissues of the woody lianas- Combretum sp. was selected and assessed for study of endophytic fungal diversity from three forest areas of West Medinipur and Jhargram districts of West Bengal. In monsoon study it was observed that out of 225 various tissue segments ,165 segments had been colonized by endophytic fungi Combretum roxburghii and 209 endophytic isolates were isolated from them. Average colonization frequency (CF)was 73.32 percent. Highest CF was in plant of Belpahari (76%) and in petiole (82.66%). Out of isolated fungal genera Pestalotiopsis sp. was highest in number. Diplodia sp., Beltrania sp., Chaetomium sp., Fusarium sp., Arthrinium sp. were also greater in number. Dominance index was highest in Belpahari (0.1547). Simpson’s diversity was maximum in Godapiasal (0.8693) and Shannon-Wiener index was also highest (2.152) in plant of Godapiasal. Highest diversity of endophytic fungi was in plants of Chilkigarh. Isolated endophytic fungi were Lasiodiplodia sp., Diplodia sp., Fusarium sp., Chaetomium sp., Arthrinium sp., Aspergillus sp., Pestalotiopsis sp. etc. Simpson’s diversity and Shannon-Wiener index were maximum in plants of Godapiasal. The study of antimicrobial activity of isolated fungal endophytes indicated that few plugs showed antimicrobial activity against few pathogenic bacteria. Among all isolates tested only seven showed antimicrobial activity. Aspergillus sp. and one unidentified fungi showed the antimicrobial activity against three bacteria i. e., Bacillus cereus, Escherechia coli and Vibrio cholera and maximum inhibition zone was observed against E. coli, diameter of inhibition zone is 1.4 cm. Other fungi showed less antimicrobial activity. Diameter of zone of inhibition varied (0.7 – 1.4) and this variation might be due to the difference of bioactive compound produced or the varied concentrations or amount degree of same compound.