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| Control of Indoor Fungal Population By Fumigating With Some Plant Parts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paper Id :
16004 Submission Date :
13/05/2022 Acceptance Date :
21/05/2022 Publication Date :
25/05/2022
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| Abstract | Plant breeders and plant pathologists have achieved plant disease control to a very great extent through the meticulous screening and developing of various resistant plant species. And, also through the development of synthetic and potent biocides for those organisms for which resistant genes could not be found or developed. On the other hand, the maladies caused by the fungi in human beings and animals could not been prevented or minimized to the expectation of the people. This may be due to the lack of knowledge of the vast world of fungi-- their biodiversity, complex behaviour, physiology, and ubiquity and their byproducts. A number of respiratory and other problems are known to be caused by fungi in human beings (Austwick, 1977). Fortunately, very a few of the fungi are the real human pathogens, but their harmful nature can not be ignored. It is so because many saprophytic fungi, when inhaled by an individual, can cause symptoms like sneezing, coughing, asthma or rashes – "Allergy” (Macaigne and Nicaud, 1927; Pepys, 1960; and Pepys et al., 1959). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Keywords | Ginneries, Fumigation, Aeromycology, Airborne. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduction |
Now a days, when the number of causes of air pollution is increasing every day, allergy by bio-pollutants is also on the increase. Fungal entities of the air are also becoming a great concern for the individuals having sensitivity to these ubiquituos microbes. Fungi cause allergenic disease among the sensitive individuals and also pave way for serious secondary ailments. Now, when there is always a danger for any one to become immunologically weak individual due to various known or unknown reasons, the role of fungi as an opportunistic pathogen becomes all the more significant. Hence, any measure to arrest the undesired fungal population of any environ would be a welcome. With this in a view, a few plant materials were used for fumigation in a room to test their efficacy in arresting the fungal spores suspended in the air. |
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| Aim of study | The objective of this paper is to study the control of indoor fungal population by fumigating with some plant parts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Review of Literature |
Plant breeders and plant pathologists have achieved plant disease control to a very great extent through the meticulous screening and developing of various resistant plant species. And, also through the development of synthetic and potent biocides for those organisms for which resistant genes could not be found or developed. On the other hand, the maladies caused by the fungi in human beings and animals could not been prevented or minimized to the expectation of the people. This may be due to the lack of knowledge of the vast world of fungi-- their biodiversity, complex behaviour, physiology, and ubiquity and their byproducts. A number of respiratory and other problems are known to be caused by fungi in human beings (Austwick, 1977). Fortunately, very a few of the fungi are the real human pathogens, but their harmful nature can not be ignored. It is so because many saprophytic fungi, when inhaled by an individual, can cause symptoms like sneezing, coughing, asthma or rashes – "Allergy” (Macaigne and Nicaud, 1927; Pepys, 1960; and Pepys et al., 1959; Poveda, et al., 2022; Awuchi, et al., 2021). |
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| Methodology | Three indigenous plant materials were used for the present study. They were: the bark, leaflets and petiole of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Vernacular name--Neem), whole plant parts including roots of Calotropis procera (Willd.) Dryand ex W. Ait. (Vernacular name: Aak or Madaar) and the leaves and petiole of Lawsonia inermis (Vernacular name: Henna or Mehndi). The aforesaid plant materials were freshly collected and dried in shade after thorough washing with distilled water. The plant materials used for the fumigation were at the incineration/ burning rate of 5 gm /cubic meter.
25 Petri-dishes, (10 cm in diameter) containing Czapek dox agar medium, were exposed in a room from 0 to 72 hrs of the fumigation treatment at the regular intervals of 24 hrs. The room used for the present investigation was selected at the Jai Narain Post Graduate College, Lucknow and that was of the dimension of 3 X 2.5 X 3. 5 m, having almost similar conditions as were observed at the Ginneries. This had to be done because none of the owners of the Ginneries visited permitted to do fumigation studies at their places. This was due to the fear of fire and also possible aesthetic loss to the cotton fibres stored there or in the adjacent rooms. The exposed Petri-plates were incubated at28 ±1C . Colonies appearing were counted from 3rd to 7th day of incubation. For three common Aspergilli—A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. niger, the colonies were counted separately.
A week gap was given in between the two fumigation treatments. |
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| Sampling | The fumigation by the
Bark of Azadirachta indica showed decreasing (30%) trend in
the total number of colonies up to 72 hours. Specifically, all the three
Aspergilli, which were looked for the affect of the fumigation, showed
decreasing trend than control (Table-1). Similarly, the fumigation by leaflets
and petiole showed decreasing (25%) trend almost equally (Tables-2 and 3). Lawsonia inermis leaves and
petioles, when used for fumigation also reduced the fungi in the room up to 63%
(Table-4). For Aspergilli, the trend was also similar. Calotropis procera whole plant, when used for fumigation, reduced the fungi in the air of the room only upto 34% (Table-5). This also reduced the three Aspergilli almost similarly. |
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| Tools Used | The fumigation by the Bark of Azadirachta indica showed decreasing (30%) trend in the total number of colonies up to 72 hours. Specifically, all the three Aspergilli, which were looked for the affect of the fumigation, showed decreasing trend than control (Table-1). Similarly, the fumigation by leaflets and petiole showed decreasing (25%) trend almost equally (Tables-2 and 3). Lawsonia inermis leaves and petioles, when used for fumigation also reduced the fungi in the room up to 63% (Table-4). For Aspergilli, the trend was also similar. Calotropis procera whole plant, when used for fumigation, reduced the fungi in the air of the room only upto 34% (Table-5). This also reduced the three Aspergilli almost similarly. |
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| Analysis | Table-1. Average number of colonies/ plate at varying
hours of fumigation by the Bark of Azadirachta indica A.
Juss on the indoor aeromycoflora.
Table-2.
Average number of colonies/ plate at varying hours of fumigation by the leaflets
of Azadirachta indica on the indoor aeromycoflora.
Table-3. Average number of colonies/ plate at
varying hours of fumigation by the petiole of Azadirachta indica on
the indoor aeromycoflora.
Table-4.
Average number of colonies/ plate at varying hours by the fumigation of leaf
and petiole of Lawsonia inermis on the indoor
aeromycoflora.
Table-5. Average number of colonies/ plate at varying
hours of fumigation by the whole plants of Calotropis procera on
the indoor aeromycoflora.
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| Findings | Reduction in the total number of fungi, including Aspergilli due to the fumigation by Neem plant parts can be attributed to the fact that the Neem contains a number of biocidal chemicals (Warthen, 1979; Schmutterer and Ascher, 1984). Neem leaves are reported to possess certain repellant/ suppressant/ deterrent (Rejectants: Chapman, 1974) principles against insects and pests by a number of workers like Islam (1983), Leuschner (1972), Meisner et al. (1976, 1978) and Redfern et al. (1979). Sharma et al. (1983) have also reported growth inhibition and abnormal development in different insects and pests by Neem. Except for Upadhyay and Arora (1975-1976), there is no clear cut specific reports regarding the suppression of fungal load in an environment due to the fumigation by Neem leaves. Neem leaves also contain sulphur, and hence its fumigation should appreciably cause fungal inhibition as observed during this study and also reported by (Bhandari, 1949 and Shukla, 1987). Khan et al. (1974) also have studied the effect of water-soluble fractions of oil cakes and principles of Neem on some fungi and nematodes. Thus, taking into consideration its chemistry and broad spectrum of action over larvae of various insects and pests including mosquitoes (Chavan, 1983) and other nematodes and also on the mammalian tissue, its fungistatic and fungicidal activity can not be ignored, as is evident from the result of the present study and also as reported by Upadhyay and Arora (1975-1976) and Shukla (1987), while experimenting to suppress the air borne fungal spores in various environs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conclusion | The fumigation by Madaar plant also reduced the total number of colonies, besides affecting the fungi specifically in the investigation. Such effects may be due to its medicinal values (Singh et al., 1983). However, this needs further experimentation. Out of all the three plant materials tested during the present investigation, Mehndi reduced the total number of colonies to the extent of 63%, indicating that this is a good material for further investigation to establish its use in the control of fungi. Its leaves are known to have a wide spectrum of antibiotic activity (Singh et al., 1983). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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3. Pepys, J. (1960). The role of human precipitins to common fungal antigens in allergic reactions. Acta Allergol. 15 (suppl.7): 108-111.
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