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STUDY OF DRINKING
WATER FUNGI AND ITS PATHOGENIC EFFECTS ON HUMAN BEINGS FROM DISTRICT
BHIMBER, AZAD KASHMIR, PAKISTAN
TANVEER HUSSAIN1,
MUHAMMAD ISHTIAQ2*, ALTAF HUSSAIN2, KISHWAR
SULTANA3
Abstract:
Pathogenic fungi
of drinking water have potentially prevailing effects on human beings.
Mycofloral study of drinking water of district Bhimber, Azad Kashmir was
conducted through systematic sampling and temporally during the year
2009. Drinking water samples were collected from selected spots and
fungal spores were grown on two different culture media viz:
potato dextrose agar (PDA) and nutrient agar (NA) and identified by
employing Direct Plate method (DPM) and Baiting Technique (BT). A total
of 4 resources of drinking water of the area were analyzed i.e., well,
spring, hand pump and tap water (water supply system). Sixteen different
fungal species were frequently prevailing in the analyzed samples and
among these five species were predominantly found human pathogenic. The
density of identified fungal species in well’s water samples (WWS) was
11 spp. spring’s water samples (SWS) 6 spp. hand pump water samples
(HWS) 8 spp. and tap water samples (TWS) 7 spp. This differential
incidence in the samples might be due to variation in geography,
edaphalogy, altitude, temperature, in fungal growth substrate variance
and analytical difference of sampling and analysis methods. The
prevalence values of mycolfora in different samples were variable with
WWS Mucor fragilis (18a~LSD), SWS Brevilegnia sp.
(20a~LSD), HWS Aspergillus flavus (14a~LSD) and TWS Alternaria
alternata (12a~LSD). It was noted that WWS more frequently depicted
mycoflora because land/well provides best environment and nourishment
for growth and reproduction of fungi. The economic importance and
pathogenic toxicity of various species is also measured and documented
in the article.
1Department of Botany, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarbad,
Pakistan
2Department of Botany, Mirpur University of Science and Technology,
Bhimber, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
3Department of Plant Pathology, PMAS, Arid Agriculture University
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
*Corresponding author email:
drishtiaqajk@gmail.com Ph & Fax: 00-92-828-920235
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