Occurrence of zoosporic and other moulds in water and mud from slaughterhouse and tanyard at Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

Summary Sixty-six species and one variety appertaining to 37 genera of fungi were collected from water and mud of slaughterhouse and tanyard. Of these, eighteen zoosporic fungal species in addition to one species of aquatic hyphomycetes ( Dactylella rhompospora ) belonging to 13 genera were recovered using baiting technique. Allomyces, Pythium and Saprolegnia were the most prevalent genera, whereas Cladochytrium and Dactylella were of rare occurrence. The mud samples were the richest with zoosporic fungi than the water samples. Aqualindrellafermentans, Chytriomyces annulus were recovered from water samples only, but completely missed in mud samples. Conversly, eight species appeared in mud samples only and were not recovered from water samples. The water and submerged mud samples collected from tanyard which are characterized by high contents of total soluble salts did not yield any considerable influence on occurrence of zoosporic fungi in this investigation. Forty-seven species and one variety belonging to 24 genera were collected from mud and water samples on glucose-Czapek's agar and Sabouraud's dextrose agar at 25 °C. Of these, 16 species were encountered only from mud samples; whereas 6 species were isolated from water samples and not recorded from mud. The most common glucophilic fungi were Aspergillus flavus, A. flavus var. columnaris, A. fumigatus, A. niger and Penicillium chrysogenum . Some fungi were common only in mud or water in slaughterhouse or tannary pools. Chrysosporium keratinophilum, C. tropicum, Chrysosporium sp., Trichophyton terrestre and Trichophyton sp. were recovered, but with different frequencies, from slaughterhouse or effluents canal on Sabouraud's dextrose agar; but they were completely absent in tannary pools due to their sensitivity to high salinity.