New records of Lignicolous fungi from Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Lignicolous fungi include many wood decay fungi. Studies on molds and decay fungi are necessary to enable us to control their growth on wood and wood products. A survey was undertaken during 2012-2013 to detect the various ligniclous fungi in Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada and Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. In a recent study, lignicolous fungi were collected from living trees and fallen branches from Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada, India. On the basis of occurrence Coriolopsis aspera (Junghuhn) Teng. Fulvifomes nilgheriensis (Montagne) Bondartseva & S. Herrera, Ganoderma australe (Fr.) Pat., G. lucidum (Curtis) P. Karsten, Hexagonia apiaria (Pers.) Fr. Phellinus linteus (Berk. & Curt.) Teng. Trametes cingulata Berk. Hook., T. cotonea (Pat. & Har.) Ryv. T. gibbosa (Pers.) Fr. Schizophyllum commune Fr. were reported from Krishna district for the first time. F. nilgheriensis (Montagne) Bondartseva & S. Herrera is recorded for the first time from India. Even though being preliminary, our results point to the necessity of conservation and protection of recent fungal diversity but, in our opinion, not by making so-called “Red list of endangered species", which, due to the lack of information and very poor evidence on this group of organisms in the region under the consideration, are extremely unreliable and therefore disputable, but rather through the very short list of few not endangered species, conditionally called “White list of not endangered fungal species", if such species recently exist at all.


INTRODUCTION
Lignicolous fungi belonging to Aphyllophorales are important in the forest ecosystem as they are active decomposers of organic matter, causing diseases in living trees of forest (Natarajan and Kolandavelu 1998). They can be a valuable resource for few pharmaceuticals, food production, bioremediation of toxic chemical spills (Kirk et al. 1992a). The Fe nanoaprticles were mycosythesized by lignicolous fungi like Pleurotus sp. Many other nanomaterials like nanoscale zeolites, metal oxides, carbon nanotubes and fibers, enzymes, bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs), and titanium dioxide was most widely used in nanoremediation (Nagadesi et al. 2013). The list of southern Indian fungi compiled by Rangaswami and co-workers (1970) includes 44 polyporoid species belonging to 13 genera of which only 5 are from kerala. More recently Natarjan and Kolandavelu (1985) described some resupinate Aphyllophorales from Tamil Nadu region and this includes the poroid members Inonotus polymorphus (Rostk.) Pilat, Phellinus allardii (Bres.) Ryv., P. umbrinellus (Bers.) Ryv. and P. purpureo-gilvus (Petch) Ryv. the most recent work on polyporaceae of india is by Roy and De (1996) which gives a record of only six polypores from Kerala.
The Central Indian fungus was first reported by Sabnis and Amin (1992) from Sardar Sarovar Environs in Gujarat. Bakshi (1971) reported Polyporus luteo-umbrinus Romell on ground attached to buried wood or root and dead leaves of Heritiera minor in Baroda. Arya (2004) reported Ganoderma lucidum (Fr.) Ryv., Phellinus nilgheriensis (Mont) Cunn, Trametes cingulata Fr. and T. varians Van   ) N. floccosus causing heart rot was recorded in living trees of Alianthus excelsa for the first time. The cultural characters of N. floccosus were described for the first time. Heart rot fungus i.e. N. floccosus decayed mostly heartwood of living tree. It colonized in the central portion of tree and begins decaying of wood which ultimately lead to death of A. excelsa tree was recognized for the first time (Nagadesi and Arya 2014). Timer decay is caused by primarily enzymatic activities of microorganisms. For the first time fungal diversity of timber degrading fungi was studied in Gujarat, India. The teak wood present in sawmills was infected with 14 types of lignicolous fungi in which L. sterioides and T. versicolor damaged the wood severely was reported for the first time. (Nagadesi and Arya 2014).

1. Survey of Krishna District
Vijayawada is famous for educational facilities. By 1950, 5 degree colleges were established in Vijayawada. It is presently a hub of residential Schools, Corporate Junior colleges. Presently we have more than 20 engineering colleges and 4 medical colleges with in radius of 15 km from Vijayawada. It is also a city known for its busy commercial activity. It is called as the Venice of the east. River Krishna flows through the city. It has the privilege of having the famous Krishna dam built across the river in the year 1854 by captain Orr and Sir

ILNS Volume 17
Arthur Cotton. The city has several historical monuments such as Mughalrajpuram cave, Akkanna madanna cave, Buddha and Jain monuments, Bhavani islands Gunadala Mary Matha shrine, and the famous Undavalli caves are located on the south bank of the river. Andhra Loyola College was founded in December 1953 and established in 1954. Today it is one of the premier institutions of higher learning in southern India. It spread over a sprawling campus of 100 acres with gothic structures in the heart of Vijayawada city. The different plants like Peltophorum, Ficus bengalensis Dalbergia sisso, Polyalthia longifolia, P. pendula, Eucalyptus, Syzygium commune and Albezia lebica were planted at the starting of the college so the age of the plants is around 50 years. Recently teak plantation is done which is having the age around 2 to 3 years. Different medicinal plants are preserved in herbal garden and Santalam album is also present in Botanical garden maintained by the college. Different lignicolous fungi were found associated 50 years of age old plants so the fungi were collected and identified and their taxonomical details are described.

Identification Of Fungi
Materials were collected in clean polythene bags from different locations and brought to the laboratory. The specimens were examined for external and internal morphology. For external morphology the materials was observed for colour, texture, type of attachment to host, pore morphology, dissepiments characters; margin, hymenial and pileal surface of basidiocarps and for internal morphology (presence/absence of structures, dimensions, vegetative and reproductive characters (Ryvarden 1991). To observe basidia and setae, free hand sections were taken. For the clear observation of setae, trammel setae and setal hyphae, lacto phenol cotton blue was used as staining and mounting medium. For amyloid and nonamyloid reaction, spores were treated with iodine solution which turns blue. Xanthochoric reaction was also tested using potassium hydroxide solution. Microphotographs were taken by using Lyica trinocular microscope with canon digital camera attachment.
The measurements of hyphae, basidia, cystidia, setae, spores and cutis elements etc were taken by using objective micrometer. Dimensions of microscopic characters are given in micrometer. The various details of specimens were compared with Hymenochaetaceae of India (Sharma 1995) Indian Polyporaceae (Bakshi 1971), CBS Aphyllophorales database, New Zealand Fungi database, and Species Fungorum, (Sep. 2005). Certain specimens were sent to the Forest Research Institute, Dehradhun for final confirmation. These fungi were kept in fungal collection of Botany Department of Andhra Loyola College, Vijaywada, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

International Letters of Natural Sciences Vol. 17
Habitat: Found on the dead wood of Casurina equsitifolia, from Ramarajaya nagar, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, collected by N. Praveen Kumar, Accession no: ALC 7. 8-10-2012. The hyphal construction is that which is usually described as Inonotus. According to Ryvarden and Johansen (1980), the species lacks setae and had, in this way, been confused by Cunningham with P. extensus. However, I certainly found typical setae, though they were very sparse, and they were considerably larger than in P. extensus (10-25 x 5-9 µm), as given by Ryvarden (2004).

2. Fulvifomes nilgheriensis
Because of the uncertainties about the living features of the fungus, I describe the following two varieties which, microscopically, can scarcely be separated as species. They agree in the sessile tomentose pileus with a crustaceous layer at the base of the tomentum, the short tubes, small pores, small yellow aguttate spores, the very sparse and more or less curved setae, the hyphal system dl to d2 without Y-branching of the skeletals, and the nonagglutinate dissepiments. Thus, this species combines the characters of Inonotus, Phellinus and Phylloporia. An Indian collection, namely Carmichael Medical College n. 1228, from the neighbourhood of Calcutta, determined as Polyporus nilgheriensis by S.R. Bose, may be Coltricia sideroides or an unnamed species of that genus. It has a matt pleuropodal pileus without a crust, pores 130-160 µm wide, yellow brown spores 55.5 x 4.5 µm, coltricioid hyphae, and more or less agglutinated dissepiments. It was found on deciduous wood of Pantropical and common in East Africa. Because it has long-lived and large fruit bodies it is conspicuous and is frequently collected by Ryvarden and Johansen in 1980. Bark and decorticated wood of dead standing trunks and stumps, associated with a white rot. Found in East and West Indies, North and South America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand (Cunningham 1965). Basidiocarp (basidioma) annual, long mesopode in buried wood, generally thick, up to 20 mm, pileus subplane, up to 160 mm across; stipe up to 100-120 mm long, 10-30 mm thick; upper surface and stipe shiny, lacquered, blackish-brown, irregularly humped (Fig. I. E.); margin and pore surface white when growing, tawny with age. Cutis thin, a fraction of 1 mm, context from russet near the tube layer to white for the major part (Fig. I. F.); context white with concentric lines of various shades; tubes monolayered, up to 15 mm long, russet, concolorous with lower part of context. the melanoid substances are easily saponifed by KOH; Skeletal Hyphae brown in the coloured parts of the context, nearly hyaline or hyaline close to cutis, 3-4 µm wide, sparsely ramified, subparallel to intertwining, especially in the less coloured parts of the context, no binding hyphae. Pores circular to irregular, 100-430 µm diam., with dissepiments usually relatively thin, 10-320 µm thick; distance between axes of pores ±260 µm. Basidiospores ovoid, double-walled, epispore thin, ovoid, hyaline; endospore thick, ovoid, with usually a small part of the apex brown, bearing relatively few long and thick echinules that support the epispore, 8-13 x 5,5-9 µm.

4. Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis
Habitat: Found on the living trees of Syzygium cumini from Andhra Loyola College, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, collected by N. Praveen Kumar, Accession no: ALC 2. 27-9-2012. It was found on Angiosperms and Gymnosperms tress like Quercus sp., Quercus Ilex, Ligustrum vulgare, Carpinus betulus, Fagus sylvatica, Corylus avellana, Populus alba, Prunus insititia, Picea sp., Taxus sp., Larix sp., and Abies sp. It causes Butt rot and lethal root disease of many tree species. It was observed throughout the temperate zones of the northern not present as a distinct cuticle (Fig. II. A). Hyphal system trimitic, generative hyphae clamped, hyaline and thick-walled, 1-3 µm in diameter, skeletal hyphae abundant in the whole fruitbody, yellow and thick walled, in the context especially golden and solid, 3-6 µm wide, often with simple secondary septa, binding hyphae also frequent, thick-walled to almost solid in the context, hyaline to yellow, 1-4 µm wide, tapering towards the ends, slightly irregular and moderately branched. Cystidia none. Spores broadly ellipsoid, 5-6.5 x 3.5-4 µm, smooth, hyaline and non-amyloid.
Found on deciduous wood, often on decorticated trunks in open and sunny localities. Observed throughout Asia and Africa where it is common in the continent south of Sahara. T. cingulata is usually easy to recognize because of the sooty black colours on the glabrous, often concentrically sulcate, pileus. There is no cuticle and the colour is restricted just to a somewhat crumbly layer of hyphae. The spores obtained from our sporeprints are slightly larger than those reported by Westhuizen (op.cit.) Ryvarden and Johansen 1980. Fruitbody annual, mostly resupinate effused with elongated pilei along the upper edge single or as fused rows of semicircular pilei, broadly attached without decurrent resupinate parts, pilei often imbricate, single pilei up to 6 cm wide and 5-6 cm long, papery thin and flexible, up to 3 mm thick at the base. Pileus flat, undulating, creamish white, first finely velutinate, but soon glabrous and dull, usually concentrically sulcate in variable zones, often also radially furrowed, striate, Margin thin, acute and wavy. Pore surface cream, pores first round and thick-walled, 3-4 per mm, often slightly radially elongated, dissepiments entire, tubes up to 2 mm long, sterile margin 1-4 mm broad (Fig. II. B). Context cream, cottony, 0.5-1 mm thick. Hyphal system trimitic, generative hyphae clamped, hyaline and thin-walled, 1-3 µm in diameter, often strongly branched in the hymenium, up to 4 µm wide in the pilear tomentum. Skeletal hyphae abundant, pale yellow, moderately thick-walled in younger parts, almost solid in older parts, 2-7 µm in diameter, often with simple secondary septa. Binding hyphae abundant, pale yellow, thick-walled, moderately branched, 1-4 µm wide. Context and pilear tomentum are dominated by solid, yellow skeletal hyphae. Cystidia none, but cystidiols projecting above the hymenium may be present. Spores cylindrical, hyaline, smooth and thinwalled, 7-10 x 2.5-3.5 µm, non-amyloid, difficult to find in dried specimens.
Habitat: Found on the dead wood of Prosopis julifera, from Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, collected by N. Praveen Kumar, Accession no: ALC 8. 30-9-2012 Found on dead wood in Afro-Asian species, quite common in Africa from Ghana and Sierra Leone in the west to Ethiopia in the north and through Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi. Further from Mauritius, Reunion and Socotra in the Indian Ocean, in Asia we have only seen it in Thailand. Quite easy to recognize because of the thin and flexible fruit bodies with an even whitish-pale ochraceous colour, mostly widely effused with small pilei and small pores. Macroscopically, T. membranaceus (Fr.) Ryv. (often cited as Polyporus tenuis) from N. America is similar, but has much shorter spores (4.5-6 µm long) Ryvarden and Johansen 1980.

10. Schizophyllum commune Fr.
The fruiting bodies were scattered or clustered on hardwood logs and branches. Fruiting body was gymnocarpous with the sporiferous part of the fruit body restricted or limited only to the underside of the cap. The hymenophore was confined to the lower side. The fruiting body was 1-4 cm wide and laterally attached to substratum, stipeless or irregular to shell shaped. The upper surface was covered with small white to grayish hairs. Hymenophore was gilled. They were distinct on the under surface, folded and split down the middle. Hence, these fungi were also designated as split fungi or split gilled fungi. The split was shallow and resembled a groove. Fruiting bodies were shrivelled in dry weather and appeared light grey to brown. The marginal proliferation was very distinctly noticed in the collected sample.