Pathogenic fungi in soils of Jabalpur, India

Results of a preliminary survey of pathogenic fungi in soils collected from forest, riverside and residential garbage soil in Jabalpur, India, are reported. A total of 45 soils samples were examined, of which 39 (87%) were positive for fungi, 66 species of fungi classified in 35 genera were isolated: Chrysosporium (78%), Fusarium (69%), Aspergillus (47%), Microsporum (38%), Gliocladium (16%), Acremonium (11%), Penicillium (11%), Humicola (9%), Scopulariopsis (7%), Paecilomyces (7%), Cladosporium (7%); Chaetomium, Colletotrichum, Cunninghamella, Microascus and Rhizopus (4% each); Absidia, Aphanocladium, Arthrobotrys, Botryotrichum, Candida, Cephaliophora, Cephalosporium, Curvularia, Histoplasma, Mucor, Shanorella, Syncephalastrum, Thermomyces, Trichophyton, Trichothecium and Verticillium (2% each); mycelia sterilia (6%). Acremonium persicinum, Cladosporium trichoides and Shanorella spirotricha are new to India. A new species of Humicola has also been isolated.