Occurrence of Anemophilous Fungi in the Special Collection of the Agricultural Sciences Center Library of the Federal University of Paraíba

Abstract

Objectives: The work objective was to verify the occurrence of anemophilous fungi present in the air and on the surface of books in the special and rare collection of the CCA/UFPB Library. To the isolation of anemophilous fungi present in the air, there used a direct exposure method, in which plates were exposed for 20 min. Methods: To the isolation of anemophilous fungi present in the air, there used a direct exposure method, in which plates were exposed for 20 min. The fungi collection from the surfaces of the books, it was performed through rubbing sterile swabs along the entire length of the cover and placed in a test tube with a saline solution. Then, it sowed the samples in Petri dishes containing culture medium. The plates with samples of fungi from the air and the surface of the books, it was incubated in an oven at 28 oC. After the growth of the colonies, the identification was based on macro and micromorphological analyzes. Results: There obtained a total of 688 isolates of anemophilous fungi belonging to 14 taxa. Most belong to the group of asexual fungi. The most frequent taxa were Penicillium (61.5%), sterile mycelia (23.5%), and Cladosporium (7.6%). Conclusion: The Library presented an important presence of several fungal genera in its spaces, favoring the biodeterioration of historical documents, besides being able to compromise the health of employees and visitors.