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Mycology 2017
September 25-26, 2017
conferenceseries
.com
September 25-26, 2017 Chicago, USA
2
nd
International Conference on
Mycology & Mushrooms
Volume 3, Issue 2 (Suppl)
Med Mycol Open Access
ISSN: 2471-8521
Indian subcontinent – A destination and potential customer for fungal diversity
A N Rai
Dr. Harisingh Gour University Sagar, India
I
ndian motherland has an area of 3287263 km
2
bearing a big population to the tune of 1.3 billion people. Majority of our countrymen
totally depend for food and livelihood on agricultural, horticultural, forest and other sectors on their produce. Being an agriculture
base country if something goes wrong in any way to the productivity then it becomes a major concerned for all of us. As we all know
biodiversity is continuously decreasing day by day because of habitat degradation, various microbial plant diseases, abrupt climate
change and many more factors. At this junction, all the national and international organizations are giving a call to conserve the
biodiversity for our future existence so much so that this slogan has become a global concern. India lies in between Indo-Himalayan
ecozone and contains 3 biodiversity hot spots. About 24.16 % of the total available land is under forest cover. We are the 7
th
largest
and fastest growing economy. In our GDP agriculture and allied sectors impart very important role. However, the yield somehow,
sometimes shows a decline and attract the attention of all the concerned. The diseases are caused by a variety of microorganisms
of which fungi are the foremost. Therefore, this is high time and there is an urgent need for survey, collections, identification and
conservation of these fungal organisms so that possible control measures can be adopted. Fungal organisms are so harmful and
dangerous that sometimes due to colossal loss they have caused various famines. I am actively engaged in exploring the fungal
diversity from the forest flora of different states of Indian subcontinent from the last 30 years. We have made fungal surveys from
possible forest patches of various states such as U.P., M.P., and some parts of Jammu and Kashmir. We have extensively and intensively
surveyed the state of Madhya Pradesh being almost in the centre of India. This state (M.P.) is a vast state having a large no. of national
parks, wild life sanctuaries and biosphere reserves which provide the additional beauty to the cultural and national heritage. This
constitutes a sort of paradise for the growth and development of the fungal diversity. We have high hopes and the scope is limitless
for the survey, collection, identification and conservation of the fungal biodiversity as no one knows when and how some of these
valuable fungal forms might be lost forever. During the course of survey, we have been able to encounter a large number of powdery
mildews, downy mildews, blights, sooty molds, black mildews, tar spots, rusts and many more symptoms. This investigation will
certainly enrich the pre-existing treasure of fungi of India in general and different states. This will also directly or indirectly lead to
the upliftment of the status/social status (socio economic condition) of the forest dwellers and tribes totally depending on the forests
and their produce.
anrai_mycology@yahoo.comMed Mycol Open Access, 3:2, 2017
DOI: 10.21767/2471-8521-C1-003