Studies on Quantitative and Qualitative Composition of Culturable Air Mycoflora of Six Different Traffic Zones of Siliguri, West Bengal
Chandra Ghosh
Department of Tea Science, Tea Taxonomy and Ecology Laboratory, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, 734013, India.
Suvojeet Mukherjee
Department of Tea Science, Tea Taxonomy and Ecology Laboratory, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, 734013, India.
Saini Sultana
Department of Tea Science, Tea Taxonomy and Ecology Laboratory, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, 734013, India.
Megha Saha
Department of Tea Science, Tea Taxonomy and Ecology Laboratory, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, 734013, India.
Nahin Millat
Department of Tea Science, Tea Taxonomy and Ecology Laboratory, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, 734013, India.
Sukumar Debnath *
Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat-785008, Assam, India, Tea Board India, West Bengal, India and Department of Tea Science, North Bengal University, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present study aims to determine quantitative and qualitative composition of Air mycoflora of six different traffic sites (Site:1: Longview, Site:2: Rohini traffic point, Site:3: Darjeeling More, Site:4: Savoke More, Site: 5: Matigara Police point, Site:6: NBU Gate 2.) within and fringe of Siliguri Municipality area. Portable volumetric bioaerosol sampler, Microbio MB1 was used to monitor the air mycoflora by exposing 10 cm diameter petri plates filled with Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol agar fitted in the sampler at a height of 1.5 meter above ground level. The sampler has an air flow rate of 10–100 l/min. and fixed at 100l/min. Culturable air borne mycoflora varied among six sites and maximum (2090 cfu/M3) was recorded from site :6 while minimum air mycoflora represented by 220 cfu/M3 at site 4. A mean aero mycoflora of 868.33 cfu/M3 was observed in the study. Species diversity of mycoflora varied among sites and represented by six genera, Cladosporium, Rhodotorula spp (Pink yeast), Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium spp, Rhizopus spp, Trichoderma spp and sterile colony. Exposure of environmental air borne mycoflora and their risk to human respiratory ailments was discussed in the light of available literature. Mitigation of roadside pollution by planting native, non-allergenic non-poisonous plants have been suggested for Siliguri Town.
Keywords: Air mycoflora, pollution, climate change, environment, bioaerosol, traffic sites