AVINASH V. KARNE
Abstract
Environmental monitoring was carried out to understand the incidence of fungal biopollutants over Jowar fields by operating continuous Volumetric Tilak Air Sampler for a period of five months during Rabi Season. Altogether 46 types of bipollutants were identified of which 41 belonged to fungal spore type origin, while remaining 5 types belonged to group Other types. Out of the total 41 fungal biopollutants, 26 belonged to Deuteromycotina, 9 to Ascomycotina, 3 to Basidiomycotina, 2 to Mastigomycotina and 1 to Zygomycotina. Fungal biopollutants of Alternaria (6.2%), Cercospora (4.1%), Helminthosporium (3.5%), Cladosporium (27.5%), Curvularia (3.2%), Drechslera (3.5%), Aspergilli + Penicilli (2.2%), Diplodia (1.8%), Rust Spores (6.2%), Smut Spores (4.1%), Colletotrichum (1.8%) and Sclerospora (0.9%) were recorded which caused leaf spot diseases, rust diseases, smut diseases, anthracnose and downy mildew disease in the test fields. The relationship among incidence of these fungal biopollutants in the air over Jowar fields, changes in the meteorological conditions and the results are presented in the paper.