Studies on the Fungi in Seasonally Inundated Sediment Habitat along South East Coast of India

In seasonally inundated sediments of Manianthivu of Nagapattinam district, southeast coast of India, a total number of 24 species belonged to 5 genera were recorded. They were assignable to Phycomycete (1 species) and Deuteromycetes (23 species). They exhibited spatio-temporal changes. The genus Aspergillus was constituted by the maximum of 19 species followed by Trichoderma (2 species). All other genera (Absidia, Botrytis and Fusarium) were represented by one species each. The soil characteristics such as pH (8.1 to 8.9), electrical conductivity (0.11 to 1.28 dSm^-1), cation exchange capacity (8.01 to 9.5 c.mol proton⁺/kg), organic carbon (0.05 to 0.18%), available nitrogen (0.012 to 0.018%), available phosphorus (0.002 to 0.005%), available potassium (0.013 to 0.047 ppm), available zinc (0.39 to 0.57 ppm), available iron (2.12 to 2.83 ppm), available copper (0.19 to 0.31 ppm), available manganese (1.41 to 1.52 ppm), calcium (3.2 to 5.2 mg/kg), magnesium(3.2 to 3.9 mg/kg), sodium (0.52 to 1.22 mg/kg) and potassium (0.02 to 0.07 mg/kg) were also showed variation during different seasons. The investigation was carried out by collections and examination of sediment samples during January 2007 - December 2008, at seasonal intervals.