PJB-2015-174
ANALYSIS OF FUNGAL DIVERSITY IMPACTS ON PINUS ROXBURGHII SEEDS FROM PINE FOREST AND PLANT NURSERIES OF AZAD KASHMIR, PAKISTAN
MUHAMMAD ISHTIAQ*, MARIA NOREEN, MEHWISH MAQBOOL, TANVEER HUSSAIN, AND SHEHZAD AZAM
Abstract
Pinus tree plays a pivotal role in commercial revenue generation, domestic lives of rural communities and sustaining of climate of Azad Kashmir. Pinus grows in forest as wild species but due to harsh environmental parameters it is also cultivated in nurseries for propagation and plantation. In this research, injurious impacts of mycofloral diversity on seed germination of Pinus roxburghii Sarg. in nature (forest) and nurseries were explored from different localities of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. In the analysis two protocols viz., blotter method (BM) and agar plate method (APM) were employed and 11 fungal species of nine genera were isolated. APM was found better (66a±0.32) than BM (60a±0.09). The prevalence of different isolated taxa was as: Aspergillus niger (42.75%), Aspergillus flavus (24.0%), Botrytis sp (14.25%), Botryosphaeria sp. (17.75%), Cladosporium cladosporioides (32.75%), Drechslera sp. (5.75%), Fusarium sp. (47.50%), Penecillium sp. (7.25%), Rhizopus stolonifer (11.50%), Rhizopus oryzae (13.0%) and Mucor sp.(7.0%). Pathogenicity analysis depicted that Fusarium was the most harmful (15.75e±0.54), followed by Aspergillus flavus (20.50d±0.32), Aspergillus niger (25.75c±0.42) and Rhizopus sp. (35.75b±0.12). Different pathogenicity results of analyzed fungal species were found in different areas and it was highest in Muzaffarabad (52.0%), Kotli (45.6%), Samahni (42.4 %) and least in Bhimber (36.0 %). Radical length (mm) of Pinus roxburghii was severely affected by Aspergillus flavus (46.6a±0.44) in Muzaffarabad, Rhizopus sp. (44.1a±0.72) in Samahni, Fusarium sp.( 42.5a±0.28) in Kotali, Aspergillus niger (37.8a±0.44) in Samahni, respectively. The tested species showed that plumule length (mm) of samples was most retarded in Muzaffarbad (37.98%) and least affected in Mirpur (24.58%). The results depict that fungi do cause damage to seed germination and growth of seedlings in nature and nurseries and these findings will be useful for forest and nurseries researchers to produce good quality seeds for growth of pinus trees.
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