Thermophilic fungi: an assessment of their potential for growth in soil.
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Date
1993-09
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Abstract
An attempt has been made to forecast the potential of thermophilic fungi to
grow in soil in the laboratory and in the field in the presence of a predominantly
mesophilic fungal flora at usual temperature. The respiratory rate of thermophilic fungi
was markedly responsive to changes in temperature, but that of mesophilic fungi was
relatively independent of such changes. This suggested that in a thermally fluctuating
environment, thermophilic fungi may be at a physiological disadvantage compared to
mesophilic fungi. In mixed cultures in soil plates, thermophilic fungi outgrew mesophilic
fungi under a fluctuating temperature regime only when the amplitude of the fluctuating
temperatures was small and approached their temperature optima for growth. An antibody
probe was used to detect the activity of native or an introduced strain of a thermophilic
fungus, Thermomyces lanuginosus, under field conditions. The results suggest that although
widespread, thermophilic fungi are ordinarily not an active component of soil microflora.
Their presence in soil most likely may be the result of the aerial dissemination of
propagules from composting plant material.
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Keywords
Thermophilic fungi, compost, aerial dissemination, spores, Thermomyces lanuginosus, autecology
Citation
Rajasekaran A K, Maheshwari R. Thermophilic fungi: an assessment of their potential for growth in soil. Journal of Biosciences. 1993 Sept; 18(3): 345-354.