Fungi causing plant diseases at jabalpur (M.P.). VIII

Summary This paper describes five foliicolous fungi imperfecti from Jabalpur in India. It includesPhyllosticta hasijai Agarwal on leaves ofAcacia melanoxylon R. Br. andCercospora anisochilicola Agarwal onAnisochilus eriocephalus, two new species,C. jasminicola Mueller &Chupp onJasminum sp. andC. achyranthina Thirum. &Chupp onAchyranthes aspera L., two new records for the state, andPestalotiopsis glandicola (Cast.)Steyaert onCassia tora L., a new addition to the fungus flora of India.     

Fungi causing plant diseases at Jabalpur (Madhya pradesh)-X. Some Cercosporae-II

Summary The present paper describes tenCercosporae causing leaf spots at Jabalpur. These include one new speciesCercospora sterculiae Agarwal &Hasija sp. nov. onSterculia urens and one new fungus record for the country,C. cauescens Ell. & Mart onPhaseolus vulgaris, C. sydowiana onWoodfordia fruticosa, C. mitteriana onDodonaea viscosa, C. grandissima onDahlia sp.,C. baliospermi onBaliospermum montanum, C. citrullina onBryonopsis laciniosa, C. punicae onPunica granatum, C. lythracearum onLagerstroemia indica andC. sisso onDelbergia sisso are new records for the state.     

Additions to the fungi of Jabalpur (madhya pradesh) V

Summary The present paper includes ten parasitic fungi occurring at Jabalpur. These include three new species viz.Hendersonia syzygiiHasija onSyzygium cumini, Phoma ixoraeHasija onIxora sp. andPhyllosticta agarwaliiHasija onDalbergia paniculata. Colletotrichum truncatum (Schw.)Andrus &Moore onAlysicarpus bupleurifolius andPiricularia zingiberi onHedychium sp. are new fungus records for the country.Grewia hirsuta forPhyllosticta sedgwickiiDaCosta &Mundkur,Lagerstroemia speciosa forPestalotiopsis versicolor (Speg.)Stey.,Zingiber officinale forCurvularia lunata (Wakker)Boedijn,Musa paradisiaca forDeightoniella torulosa (Syd.)Ellis andFlacourtia ramontchi forAlternaria tenuisNees exPers. are new hosts record from Jabalpur, India.     

Antimicrobial activity of some plant extracts against bacterial strains causing food poisoning diseases

Prevention of food spoilage and food poisoning pathogens is usually achieved by use of chemical preservatives which have negative impacts including: human health hazards of the chemical applications, chemical residues in food & feed chains and acquisition of microbial resistance to the used chemicals. Because of such concerns, the necessity to find a potentially effective, healthy safer and natural alternative preservatives is increased. Within these texts, Plant extracts have been used to control food poisoning diseases and preserve foodstuff. Antimicrobial activity of five plant extracts were investigated against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi using agar disc diffusion technique. Ethanolic extracts of Punica granatum, Syzygium aromaticum, Zingiber officinales and Thymus vulgaris were potentially effective with variable efficiency against the tested bacterial strains at concentration of 10 mg/ml while extract of Cuminum cyminum was only effective against S. aureus respectively. P. granatum and S. aromaticum ethanolic extracts were the most effective plant extracts and showed bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities against the highly susceptible strains of food borne pathogenic bacteria (S. aureus and P. aeruginosa) with MIC's ranged from 2.5 to 5.0 mg/ml and MBC of 5.0 and 10 mg/ml except P. aeruginosa which was less sensitive and its MBC reached to 12.5 mg/ml of S. aromaticum respectively. These plant extracts which proved to be potentially effective can be used as natural alternative preventives to control food poisoning diseases and preserve food stuff avoiding healthy hazards of chemically antimicrobial agent applications.     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS): a novel technology for identifying microbes causing infectious diseases

With the advent of improved experimental techniques and enhanced precision, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) offers a robust tool for probing the chemical constituents of samples of interest in biological sciences. As the interest continues to grow rapidly, the domain of study encompasses a variety of applications vis-à-vis biological species and microbes. LIBS is basically an atomic emission spectroscopy of plasma produced by the high-power pulsed laser which is tightly focused on the surface of any kinds of target materials in any phase. Due to its experimental simplicity, and versatility, LIBS has achieved its high degree of interest particularly in the fields of agricultural science, environmental science, medical science, forensic sciences, and biology. It has become a strong and sensitive elemental analysis tool as compared to the traditional gold standard techniques. As such, it offers a handy, rapid, and flexible elemental measurement of the sample compositions, together with the added benefits of less cumbersome sample preparation requirements. This technique has extensively been used to detect various microorganisms, extending the horizon from bacteria, molds, to yeasts, and spores on surfaces, while also being successful in sensing disease-causing viruses. LIBS-based probe has also enabled successful detection of bacteria in agriculture as well. In order for good quality processing of food, LIBS is also being used to detect and identify bacteria such as Salmonella enteric serovar typhimurium that causes food contamination. Differences in soil bacteria isolated from different mining sites are a very good indicator of relative environmental soil quality. In this connection, LIBS has effectively been employed to discriminate both the inter- and intra-site differences of the soil quality across varying mining sites. Therefore, this article summarizes the basic theory and use of LIBS for identifying microbes causing serious agricultural and environmental infectious diseases.     

Fungi associated with the diseases of freshwater fishes

During the course of present investigations 43 isolates representing 5 genera of Saprolegniaceous fungi were isolated from 19 different species of freshwater fishes. The parasitic abilities of these isolates have been demonstrated by conducting artificial inoculation experiments under laboratory conditions using the species of Puntius and Colisa as test fishes.     

Virulence of entomopathogenic Fungi (Fungi imperfecti) for the adults of Acanthoscelides obtectus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

Tests with the bean weevil, Acanthoscelides obtectus, in which the hosts were exposed indirectly to various dilutions of conidia of four entomopathogenic fungi showed that mortality was a function of the concentration of the inoculum. In these tests a given spore suspension was sprayed on the internal surfaces of a Petri dish. Adult weevils of a known age were placed in the dish, held there for 24 hr, then removed and kept at 20°C. After 20 days, the host mortality was determined. From the data obtained, it was possible to trace a probit regression line of the mortality in relation to the increasing spore concentration. Infection was observed in hosts exposed to a concentration of approximately 5 × 10⁶ spores/ml up to a maximum of about 1 × 10⁹ spores/ml. The A. obtectus was susceptible to infection by spores of Beauveria bassiana, B. tenella, Metarrhizium anisopliae, and Paecilomyces fumoso-roseus.     

中国担子菌纲木生真菌两新记录种

在对吉林省长白山自然保护区进行菌物资源调查中,发现担子菌纲的两种木生真菌,浅黄缘索革菌( Hypochniciellum cremeoisabellinum )和泊氏尖齿菌( Mucronella bresadolae ),两者均为中国新记录种,同时缘索革菌属( Hypochniciellum )和尖齿菌属( Mucronella )也为中国新记录属.本文根据采集的材料对它们进行了详细的描述和显微结构绘图.     

Taxonomische Revision der GattungThelopsis Nyl. (Lichenisierte Fungi)

Die vorliegende Studie enthält Ergebnisse einer taxonomischen Revision der lichenisierten Fungi (Flechten) der GattungThelopsis Nyl. Die Gattung umfasst 6 Arten:Th. flaveola Arnold,Th. isiaca Stiz.,Th. lojkana (Poetsch exArnold)Nyl.,Th. inordinata Nyl.,Th. melathelia Nyl. undTh. rubella Nyl. Bei der Revision waren weder nomenklatorische Änderungen noch Beschreibungen neuer Taxa nötig. Näher wird die systematische Stellung vonThelopsis diskutiert. Im Vergleich mit den Hauptgruppen der lichenisiertenPyrenocarpi nimmtThelopsis, zusammen mit den taxonomisch noch nicht richtig eingereihten Arten“Clathroporina” heterospora Zahlbr. und“Microglaena” rosea Serv., eine systematisch bedeutend isolierte Stellung ein. Demgegenüber existieren reale phylogenetische Beziehungen vonThelopsis zur discocarpen GattungRamonia Stiz. (FamilicThelotremataceae s. ampl.) Es wird vorgeschlagen, die GattungThelopsis in die FamilieThelotremataceae einzugliedern.     

Rasterelektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen anScopulariopsis brevicaulis (Sacc.)Bain. (Fungi imperfecti)

Summary Scanning photos of the imperfect fungusScopulariopsis brevicaulis (Sacc.)Bain. show new aspects of ontogenesis and morphology in this organism. Young conidia have a soft, deformable wall. Along fine spiral striations lateron the definite perisporal sculptures are formed.