Studies on Air Borne Fungi of Tea Seed Orchard at Gaya Ganga Tea Estate of Darjeeling District, West Bengal

Abstract

Air borne microorganisms obtaining tremendous interest as they play a significant role in the plant, animal and human health. Studies on aerobiology can help to recognize the resources, take-off, passive deposition and impaction of these microorganisms on the plant life. So far, no work has been reported on the air spora of the seed orchards of tea garden. This work aimed to observe flowering period and the diversity of air mycoflora prevalent in six biclonal tea seed orchards (TS: 569, TS: 491, TS: 557, TS: 520, TS: 463 and TS: 462). A total five species were recorded. Penicillium sp is found to be dominant over the other recorded species. The maximum population of mycoflora (CFU 1580/M3) was recorded under TS: 569 and the lowest (CFU 180/M3) under TS: 463. Air mycoflora fluctuated under TS: 491, TS: 557, TS: 520 and TS: 462 and were CFU/M3 740, 540, 340 and 380 respectively.