STUDIES ON SOIL FUNGI OF WHEAT CROP FIELD WITH REFERENCE TO ANTIBIOSIS
The effect of different staling period for screening of microfungi that have strong antagonistic potentiality, antibiosis study was performed from wheat crop field soil at different incubation periods following composite agar plate method. It was observed that there was decrease in the number of fungal species as the staling period was increased .A total number of 18 fungal species was isolated in the control plates and there was gradual decrease in the number of fungal species from 18 (control) to13, 11, 10, 8 and 7 with the staling period of 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours respectively. The appearance of seven fungal species after 120 h of staling showed their best tolerant capacity to the staling growth products secreted by the earlier established fungi as they secrete toxic metabolites .The effect of staling growth product was studied against F. solani by cellophane agar layer technique. Five antagonists i.e., Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Penicillum italicum, P. rubrum and T.viride were selected for their toxicity effects against Fusarium solani at different incubation periods of staling i.e., 24h, 48h, 72h, 96h and 120 h. Trichoderma viride was most effective antagonist compared to other test organisms tested. In general, the toxicity effect was more at 120 hours of staling. Trichoderma sp. was most effective in inhibiting the growth of all the antagonistic soil fungi tested. Trichoderma viride inhibited the growth of Fusarium solani by 82% followed by Penicillium rubrum (74.8%), P. italicum (72.6%), Aspergillus flavus (64.2%) and A. niger (56.6%).