Assessment of Enzymatic Potential of Soil Fungi to Improve Soil Quality and Fertility

Asian Journal of Biological and Life Sciences ,2020,9,2,163-168.
Published:September 2020
Type:Research Article
Authors:
Author(s) affiliations:

Raj Singh1, Sushil Kumar Upadhyay1,*, Indu Sharma1, Pooja Kamboj1, Anju Rani2, Permod Kumar2

1Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana-Ambala, Haryana, INDIA.

2Department of Botany, K.V. Subharti College of Science, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA.

Abstract:

Soil is the very good habitat of fungi. The fungi have capacity to adopt in response unfavorable conditions of soil ecosystem. The fungal communities play a predominant role in the litter decomposition due to their lingo-cellulolytic potential. These enzymes helps in humus formation, hence increase soil health or fertility. In the present study, a total of 11 forms of fungi were isolated from soil of Mullana-Ambala, Haryana, India. Out of these, 9 fungi were identified, among these two belongs to Zygomycotina (Syncephalastrum sp., Mucor plumbeus) and 7 belong to Deutromycotina (Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, A. quadrilineatus, A. terreus, A. candidus, A. flavus, A. sydowi). The ability of these fungi to produce extracellular enzymes viz. cellulolytic, pectolytic and lignolytic were tested in vitro. The wheat crop residues burning has observed a big problem in Haryana, hence in vitro decomposition of these post harvested residues was tested by using these fungi. It was observed that, A. terreus produce higher lignolytic activity, but did not cause much decomposition as compare to other fungus. A. niger and Syncephalastrum sp. showed more pectolytic activity as compared to other species. The A. flavus, A. terreus, A. niger, A. fumigates, Syncephalastrum sp. showed all three activity (CMCase, pectolytic and lignolytic). The A. candidus did not showed lignolytic activity but having good rate of decomposition of wheat straw. Since A. niger and A. candidus were found potential decomposers of wheat crop residues in vitro.