Seasonal variations in airborne fungal spores of Nagbhid (M.S.) India

Air is mixture of various biotic and abiotic molecules. Biotic molecule includes pollen, fungal spores, insect, insect parts and trichomes etc. These biotic molecules directly inhale by human being along with the air. Fungal spores are known for their ability to cause diseases in plants and also in human being. A survey of air borne fungal spores was carried out for one year from December 2012 - November 2013 to assess the qualitative and quantitative occurrence of fungal spore during different months of the year.27fungal typesand 6 other types were identified out of the total catch of 7111 spores.Ten fungal types recorded more than 1% of the annual total fungal catch. Cladosporium formed the major component of the aerospora constituting 19.42% of thetotal fungal catch followed by Aspergilli (16.58%), Nigrospora (8.87%), Smut spores (6.54%), Alternaria (6.12%), Curvularia (4.42%), Uredospores (2.53%) and Pithomyces (2.42%). Highest fungal counts were obtained in the month of August 2013 and lowest in the month of April 2013. A significant positive correlation was found in fungal counts with temperature, relative humidity and rainfall.