Mycoecology in the Soil of a Casuarina Bioshield Plantation along Southeast Coast of India

A total number of 325 colonies were isolated by plating method from the soils of Casurina bioshield plantation at Naluvedhapathy (Nagapattinam Dt.), along south east coast of India. There were 19 species belonged to 4 genera with Aspergillus as the dominant genus, represented by more number of species (14 species), followed by Fusarium and Trichoderma (2 species each). Population density varied from 9.7 to 17.7 CFU/g and the species diversity from 6 to 10 species during different stations. Physico-chemical analyses of the soils revealed the following features: pH 7.9 to 8.8, electrical conductivity 1.06 to 1.31 dSm^-1, cation exchange capacity 8.67 to 10.11 c.mol proton⁺/kg, organic carbon 0.04 to 0.21%, available nitrogen 0.011 to 0.022%, available phosphorus 0.002 to 0.005%, available potassium 0.013 to 0.051 ppm, available zinc 0.47 to 0.57 ppm, available iron 2.13 to 2.90 ppm, available copper 0.22 to 0.31 ppm, available manganese 1.38 to 1.53 ppm, calcium 3.1 to 5.1 mg/kg, magnesium 3.2 to 4.1 mg/kg, sodium 0.23 to 0.79 mg/kg and potassium 0.02 to 0.08 mg/kg, during different seasons.