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SOME STUDIES ON VERTICAL PROFILE OF AIR BORNE MYCOFLORA OF LAHORE

ASAD SHABBIR^1*, FATIMA AHMED¹ AND MOHAMMAD OSMAN YOUSAF²

Abstract: A survey of vertical profile of air-borne fungal spore concentration of district Lahore was carried out from October 2006 to September 2007. A site close to academic block of University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam campus was selected for study. The concentration of atmospheric fungal spores was studied by using 9 cm diameter Petri dishes containing MEA and PDA media exposed to different levels of heights viz.;  0, 1.82 and 3.63 m for five minutes. The fungal colonies appeared were identified on the basis of their microscopic and macroscopic morphology. The results showed an incidence of several different fungal species with four major genera viz; Alternaria, Cladosporium, Aspergillus and Penicillium. The highest growth of fungal colonies was observed in the month of May. The monthly variation of air-borne fungi was studied both qualitatively and quantitatively.

¹Institute of Mycology and Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab, Lahore-54590, Pakistan

²Allergy and Asthma Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan.