FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
At the outset I express my deep sense of gratitude to all the MSI members for electing me the President of Mycological Society of India for the year 2019. During the last meeting of Mycological Society of India held in November 2018 at ARI Pune, deliberations were held to work for uplifting the activities of MSI so as to expand its horizons. In this regard President of MSI, Professor K.R.Sridhar has circulated some of the measures requesting all the MSI members to contribute in whatever way each one of us can do, so as to achieve the target. I have tried to summarize the measures he has suggested in the following points:
- Encourage / request the colleagues involved in the teaching of Mycology in respective institute and otherinstitutes to become member of MSI
- Being a teacher of Mycology one must devise ways and means to make the subject interesting with thepurpose of attracting undergraduate and post graduate students to pursue further study in Mycology
- Persuade the research students of Mycology in respective institution to become Life member of MSI
- Persuade PhD scholars to become members of Google Scholar and Research Gate, so that they can access lots of literature and freely downloadable material pertaining to their research. At present, manyjournals offer downloadable literature in soft copy without cost (e.g. Kavaka, Mycosphere, Studies inFungi, CREAM Journal, Plant Pathology and Quarantine, Asian Journal of Mycology, and so on)
- All the information on important conferences / workshops (regional / national / international) onMycology should be shared with MSI members.
- To expand the activities of MSI, local units like MSI Unit of Mumbai needs to be established whichshould organize different activities including symposia, conferences, group discussion, discussion with school children and general public
- There is a need to establish State level Chapters of MSI in which dual purpose of popularizing Mycologyand expanding the activities of MSI can be achieved.
Towards the end of 2018 MSI lost two of its founder members and mycologists of repute, namely Professor B.P.R.Vittal and Professor Johnpaual Muthumary. In the last Executive meeting of MSI held at Pune, it was decided to dedicate the next volume of Kavaka to be released in June, 2019 (Volume 52) in the memory of Late Professor B.P.R. Vittal and subsequent Volume number 53 to be released in December,2019 in the memory of Late Professor Johnpaul Muthumary. Members are requested to contribute review articles and good manuscripts for these volumes so that these can be brought out in time.
My sincere thanks are due to all the authors of the articles included in this issue of the Journal. I also sincerely acknowledge the help rendered by the reviewers for the critical appraisal of the manuscripts which has immensely helped to improve the quality of the articles. Without their help timely release of the Journal would not have been possible.
December 31, 2018
N.S.ATRI
Editor-in- Chief
KAVAKA
Department of Botany
Punjabi University, Patiala
Pin 147 002, Punjab, INDIA
Front Pages 
, Contents
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Biological Control of Soil-Borne Plant Pathogens
D. J. Bagyaraj
Center for Natural Biological Resources and Community Development (CNBRCD), 41 RBI Colony, Anand Nagar, Bangalore
560024 Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on September 10, 2018; Accepted on November 25, 2018 )
ABSTRACT
The role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in improving plant growth is now well documented. Most of the studies on AMF-root pathogens suggest that AMF decreased or mitigated the disease severity. Consistent reduction of disease symptoms has been described for fungal, bacterial and nematode pathogens. Studies conducted so far suggest that the mechanisms of suppression may be due to morphological, physiological and biological alterations in the host. Thickening of the cell walls through lignification and production of other polysaccharides in mycorrhizal plants preventing penetration and growth of pathogens like Fusarium oxysporum and Phoma terrestris have been demonstrated. Higher concentration of ortho-dihydroxy phenols present in mycorrhizal plants compared to non-mycorrhizal plants was found to be inhibitory to the root rot pathogen Sclerotium rolfsii. The activation of specific plant defence mechanisms as a response of AMF colonization is an obvious basis for the protective capacity of AMF. Among the compounds involved in plant defence studied in relationship to AMF formation are phytoalexins, enzymes of the phenylpropanoid pathway, chitinases, peroxidases, pathogenesis related (PR) proteins etc. Mycorrhizal plants harbour higher population of microorganisms in the rhizosphere thus making it difficult for the pathogen to compete and gain access to the root. Further mycorhizosphere supports higher population of antagonists and siderophore producers. Thus the possibility of biologically controlling the root pathogens with AMF looks promising.
Keywords: AMF, biocontrol, soil-borne plant pathogens
Detection and molecular characterization of outdoor fungi from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, India
Sharma Dhandapani1 , Ram Murti Meena2 , Belle Damodara Shenoy3 *
1 Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalii 620024, India
2 Biological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403004, Goa, India
3 CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography Regional Centre, 176, Lawson's Bay Colony, Visakhapatnam 530017, India
* Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on May 10, 2018; Accepted on December 14, 2018)
ABSTRACT
Visakhapatnam is a coastal city situated on the east coast of India. It is one of the cities included under the Smart Cities mission of Government of India. Recent studies have reported around 35 fungal taxa from the outdoor air of the city. There have been, however, few studies that has employed modern taxonomic tools such as gene sequence analysis to understand the fungal diversity. The present study was, therefore, initiated to characterize the phylogenetic diversity and clarify the taxonomic positions of the fungi isolated from aerosol samples collected from urban Visakhapatnam. In total, 22 fungi were isolated, of which 9 isolates were subjected to ITS-based phylogenetic analysis. In the phylogenetic tree, the newly generated nine ITS sequences clustered within Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus elegans, A. micronesiensis, Penicillium citrinum, P. oxalicum and P. steckii clades. Further studies employing a polyphasic approach, including mycotoxin analysis, will be required to accurately identify these fungi to species level and assess their possible effects on human health and coastal ecology of Visakhapatnam.
Keywords: Air-borne fungi, Colony morphology, ITS, Phylogeny, Taxonomy
Mushrooms - Some Ethnomycological and Sociobiological Aspects
N.S. Atri* and Mridu
Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala-147 002, Punjab, India
*Corresponding author Email :This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on October 5, 2018; Accepted on December 14, 2018)
ABSTRACT
Mycophilic society around the world has always been looking for wild edible mushrooms during monsoon season since times immemorial. People have been collecting these mushrooms for several purposes including culinary, medicinal and sacred as well. Local inhabitants of various regions of the world belonging to different civilizations possessed ethnic information regarding uses of mushrooms in day to day life. This information has been capitalized and even strengthened through regular inputs from different parts of the world. Because of their time tested importance in human welfare over a period of time, mushrooms has earned the status of special creation of God. These mushrooms have played a pivotal role in the upliftment of social and economic status of the rural people by adding to their economic profits and serving their culinary needs at their door steps. The indigenous knowledge about utility of these wild mushrooms is an important area which needs to be explored scientifically for its wider use in human welfare. This manuscript presents a compilation of the published information about sociobiological and ethnomycological aspects of mushrooms at one place which otherwise is lying scattered in the published literature around the world.
Key words: Ethnomycology, food, income, medicine, sociobiology, traditional knowledge, wild edible mushrooms.
Are the scrub jungles of Southwest India potential habitats of Cordyceps?
H.R. Dattaraj1 , B.R. Jagadish1 , K.R. Sridhar1 * and S.D. Ghate2
1 Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri, Mangalore 574 199, Karnataka, India
2 Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be) University, Derlakatte, Mangalore 574 018, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on September 15, 2018; Accepted on December 10, 2018)
ABSTRACT
During routine survey of macrofungi, six species of Cordyceps were recovered in the scrub jungles of southwest Karnataka. Reports on occurrence of Cordyceps and allied species in the Western Ghats and southwest coast are documented with comments on the Cordyceps recorded
in this preliminary study.
Keywords: Ascomycetes, Cordycepitaceae, entomophagous fungi, Western Ghats, southwest coast
Aquatic and aeroaquatic fungal spores in urban runoff of southwest India
S.D. Ghate1 and K.R.Sridhar2 *
1 Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya Deemed to be University, Derlakatte, Mangalore 574 018, India
2 Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri, Mangalore 574 199, India
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on November 25, 2018; Accepted on December 10, 2018)
ABSTRACT
This study documents the spore assemblage of aquatic and aeroaquatic fungi (AAF) in urban street runoff of a southwest coastal city in India during southwest monsoon season. Depending on the extent of vegetation (high, moderate, low and very low) within surroundings, eight locations were selected to assess water in street runoff. From each location, water samples of street runoff were filtered through membrane filters (5 μm) to trap the spores followed by staining with lactophenol cotton blue. Among 24 samples assessed from eight locations, a maximum of 20 samples consist of AAF spores. Altogether spores of 35 species were found in street runoff with high relative abundance of Alatospora acuminata, Anguillospora crassa, Flagellospora curvula, Helicomyces roseus and unidentified fungus (sigmoid spore) (5.7-7.6%). Spores of A. crassa and unidentified fungus were common to all locations. The richness of species as well as spores decreased linearly across the locations with high towards least vegetation. Jaccard's similarity coefficient ranged from 53.1-75% among four locations with high-moderate vegetation, while except for one pair of locations (75%) similarity ranged from 20-47.8% in rest of the locations consisting of low vegetation. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in species richness as well as spores of AAF in eight locations (p < 0.05). It is predicted that the AAF spores produced in the canopy in urban habitats were transferred to street runoff. It is hypothesized that the AAF spores in street runoff facilitate to monitor the status vegetation and in turn the extent of pollution in urban habitats.
Keywords: Fungal spores, street runoff, canopy, bioindicator, pollution, urban ecology
Documentation of lichenicolous fungi from India - Some additional Reports
Yogesh Joshi
Lab. No. 15, Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302004, Rajasthan
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on October 15, 2018; Accepted on December 25, 2018)
ABSTRACT
This manuscript records twelve lichenicolous fungi, namely Arthonia coronata Etayo (on Flavoparmelia caperata), Dactylospora deminuta (Th. Fr.) Triebel (on Parmotrema kamatii), Didymocyrtis bryonthae (Arnold) Hafellner (on Lecanora sp.), Muellerella triseptata Diederich (on Physcia), Phoma peltigerae (P. Karst.) D. Hawksw. (on Peltigera didactyla), Polycoccum ibericum Etayo & van den Boom (on Rinodina sp.), Tremella cladoniae Diederich & M.S. Christ. (on Cladonia spp.), T. phaeophysciae Diederich & M.S. Christ. (on Phaeophyscia sp.), Zwackhiomyces physciicola Alstrup (on Physcia gomukhensis) and Z. sphinctriniformis Grube & Hafellner (on Romjularia sp.) along with two new species viz. Endococcus physciae sp. nov. growing on Physcia and Opegrapha gyalolechiae sp. nov. growing on Gyalolechia flavorubescens from India.
Key words: Caloplaca, fungi, Gyalolechia, lichen, Opegrapha, Physcia, Teloschistaceae.
Taxonomic notes on the genus Ganoderma from Union Territory of Chandigarh
Jashanveer Kaur Brar 1 , Ramandeep Kaur 2 , Gurpreet Kaur 3 , Avneet Pal Singh 2* and Gurpaul Singh Dhingra 2
1Department of Agriculture, General Shivdev Singh Diwan Gurbachan Singh Khalsa College, Patiala 147 001 (Punjab), India
2Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala 147 002 (Punjab), India
3Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar 143 002, (Punjab), India
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on November 4, 2018; Accepted on December 23, 2018)
ABSTRACT
Sixteen species of the genus Ganoderma P. Karst. i.e. Ganoderma australe (Fr.) Pat., G. brownii (Murrill) Gilb., G. capense (Lloyd) Teng, G. chalceum (Cooke) Steyaert, G. chenghaiense J.D. Zhao, G. crebrostriatum J.D. Zhao & L.W. Hsu, G. donkii Steyaert, G. elegantum Ryvarden, G. lipsiense (Batsch) G.F. Atk., G. lobatum (Schwein.) G.F. Atk., G. lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst., G. mediosinense J.D. Zhao, G. ramosissimum J.D. Zhao, G. resinaceum Boud., G. stipitatum (Murrill) Murrill and G. zonatum Murill, have been described and illustrated on the basis of specimen collected from different localities of Union Territory of Chandigarh during the monsoon season in 2016. Among the taxa, G. capense is a new record for India, where as G. brownii, G. chalceum, G. chenghaiense, G. donkii, G. elegantum, G. stipitatum and G. zonatum are described for the first time from the study area. A key to the species of Ganoderma recorded in this study has been provided.
Keywords: Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, Polypores, white rot, bracket fungi
The Genus Agaricus (Agaricaceae, Agaricales) from India- A Check List
1Munruchi Kaur Saini, Harwinder Kaur 2 and Nazir Ahmad Malik 3
1,3 Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala
2 Akal University Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda (Punjab)
Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on August 5, 2018 ; Accepted on December 25, 2018)
ABSTRACT
The present paper presents a checklist of the species of genus Agaricus L.: Fr. from different regions of India known till date. In all, 126 taxa of this genus are documented from India as per latest literature and published reports.
Key words: Agaricus, checklist, distribution, India
Obituary 1 , Obituary 2
