J Phytol fles 16(2).2ll-21.i,2003

THE DISTRJBUTION OFKERATINOPHII,IC FUNGI IN RELAT'IONTO pH OF SOIL

NEETU JAIN and MEENAKSHI SHARMAlaboratory of Mycology and Plant Pathologv, Department of Botany, Universrty of Ra;asthan.

Jaipur-302004

ScrceningofT0 soil samples ofdifferent habitats like garden, nursery, farm house, vegetablernarket, cow habitat, buffalo habitat, dog habitat and house dust from different area of Jaipurwas done for keratinophilic fungi in relation to soil pH. A total of97 isolates ofkeratrnophilicand related fungi distributed in 12 genera and 15 species were isolated. The range ofsoil pH

varies vetween 6 to 10.5 Most of fungi erecorded from soil containing 6.5 to 7.5 pH. One

i*latc-Fusarium monildormewasalso isolated at 3pH. Epidermoplytonfloccosznr rvas isolatedfor the first time from Indian soil at pH 6.5 to 7.0. One isolate each, of Tnchophyton tarrcstcand. Asperyillus fumigatus nd two isolates of Nocardia sp. were isolated from highly alkalinesoil at pH 10.5 from animal habitats.

Kqtwords : Dermaophyte; Habitats; Keratinophilic fungi.

IntroductionKeratinophilic fungi are generallyconsidered as soil saprophyte,slr. Soil,thatis rich in keratinous material is mostconducive for the growth and occurrence ofkeratinophilic fungi. The majority ofdermatophytes can live saprophytically and

every keratinophilic fungi can be consideredas a potential source. Tlle species ofkeratinophilic fungal :group have beendivided into three categories according totheir natural habiats. Anthropophilic, whenhuman being are the natural host$ Zoophilic,when a variety of animals act as naturalhosts; Geophilic, when the soil is the naturalhabitat. Most of the keratinophilic fungi are

not dermatophytes but soil inhabitans. They

occur on cornified debris in the soil and

degrade keratin and keratinous material.Therefore, they play an important ecologicalrole in decomposing such residue.

H-ion concentration of any soilplays an immense rob in'determining t*re'

microflora in it. Keratinophilic fungi mostlypreferred slightly acidic to slightly alkalinesoil. Gupta and Garg3 isolated thekeratinophilic fungi from Meerut in relationto soil pH. Bhadauria and Sharmaa studied

the distribution ofkeratinophilic fungi in soilaccording to the soil pH of habitat. Most ofthe fungi rvere reported within the pH range

6.5 to 8.0.The present investigation described

the occurrence ofkeratinophilic fungi from

different area ofJaipur district in relation tosoilpH.Materialsand MethodsSeventy soil samples were collected fromdifferent habitats like garden soil. nurserysoil, farm house, cowhabitat, buffalir habitat,dog habitat, vegetable market and house dustof Jaipur. To. Ka Va. hair baiting technique'was tbllowed for isolating the fungi.

For.this purpose a sufficientamount of soil (25 gm) rvas taken in a

separate sterilized petriplate fiom eachsample. Sterilized distilled rvater rvas addeci

to provide m-oisture to the soil. Bits ofsterilized human hair and animal hair (cou.

buffalo, dog) were used as baits. I'he hairwere scattered uniformly only on wet soil.Each petriplate was separately labeledindicating the date, site ofcollection and type

of bait. etc. Each petriplate was incubated

at28*2"C for 3-4 weeks in the culture roorn.

Fungal growth, if any on the hair baits was

obse rved- period'ically:

Metzer's digital pH meter rvas used

to delect the pH of soil solutions. For thispurpose, a small amount of soil ( I gm) rvas

shaken rvith double distilled water (5 ml) and

the mixture was allorved to stand for about

30 minutes. Electrode was inserted in thesoil solution and reading was noted. Thisproccdure was followed for cach soilsample.

Results and DiscussionOut of 70 samples examined fronr dill'ercnt

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habitats of Jaipur by using diffbrent hairbaits, 58 samples were found positive infungal growth. A total of 97 isolates ofkeratinophilic and related fungi distributedin l2 general and l5 species.were isolated.Data presented in Table I shows thatkeratinophilic fungi mostly prefened slightlyacidic to alkaline soil. In the present study,

most ofthe fungi were obtained from naturalsoil. Buchvald et al6. have also observed an

increase in the number of keratinophilicspecies isolated from surface soil with an

increase in the pH from 6.4 to 7.8.

' Chrysosporium tropicum, C.

indicum, Trichophyton terrestre andAspergillus fumigatus mostly preferredslightly acidic to highly alkaline soil (pHranging from 6.5 to 9.5). Aspergillusfumigatus, T. terrestre and Nocardia sp.werealso reported from 10.5 pH level fromanimal habitat soil. Nocardfa sp. wasisolated for the first time from soil in Jaipurdistrict and was found to prefer pH 6.5 to10.5. Its higher incidence was observed inalkaline soilof animalhabitat (10.5 pH).

Gupta and Garg3 studied thekeratinophilic fungi in 40 soil samplescollected from Meerut with particularreference to soil pH and found that thefrequency of occurrence to keratinophilicfungi was higher in alkaline soils.

According to Bhadauria andSharmaa, keratinophilic fungi prefened a pHrange of 6.5 to 8.0 and alkaline soil (pH 9)favoured good growth in the case of Iterretre.

Gymnoseus rees'sii preferre$slightly aci-dic to slightly alkaline soilranging from 6.5 to 7.5, but mostly obtainedfrom neutral soil. According to Sharmai, G.

reessii favoured slightly acidic (6.0-6.5 pH)or slightly alkaline soil (7.5-8.0). Theseresults also support our present findings.

J. P hytol. Res. 16(2) : 2ll-213, 2003 213

No keratinophilic fungi exceptFusarium moniliforme was obtained fromhighly acidic soil up to pH level 5.5. f,moniliforme was the only species isolatedform highly acidic soil (pH 3). In earlierstudies Meinhof et a1.8, Malee and Kabenro

had taken samples of acidic and alkalinesoils and found that strongly acidic soilswere mostly a poorer source ofkeratinophilic fungi. Thus, our presentfindings are in agreement with their results.

lyer and Williamson'r studied theprevalence ofkeratinophilic flora in relationto soil pH and found that keratinophilic fungipreferred less acidic to less alkaline soils (pH6.s-7.s).

Epidermophyton floccosumfavoured the less acidic to neutral soilwhereas Histoplasma eapsulatum wasmostly isolated from slightly acidic toalkaline soil (pH ranging from 6.5 to 7.5).One isolate of H. capsulatum was alsorcported from alkaline soil (pH 9).

Drechslera sp. was isolated onlyfrom alkaline soil whereas Curvalaria sp.

and ll.{onilia sp. were isolated from neutralsoil.'Torula sp. preferred neutral to slightlyalkaline soil.Referencesl. AjelloL 1953,J. lnvest. Derm.21 1572. Ajello L 1956,Science 173 8763. Gupta R and GargAP l99l,Acta Bot. Irultca 19

283

4. Bhadauria S and SharmaI'oll. 8(31 245

5. Vanbreuseghem R 1952,lhtp.32 173

M 2001, .1. Envir and

Ann. Soc. Relg. Med.

6. Buchvald J, Steinerova E and Hraske J 1966,Stmoose. Derm. lnl. Bralislova

7. Sharma M 1983, Ph.D. Thesis, BotanyDepartment, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

8. Meinhof W' Thianprasit M and Rieth H 1960,Arch. Klin- Exp. Derm.2l230

9. Male O 196t, Derm. Wschr 144 96510. Kaben U 1963, Bull. I'harm. Res. lnst. (O.saka)

15 llI l. h'er SR and Williamson D l99l, Geobios 18 3