Studies on the effect of heavy metals on soil fungi Trichoderma sp.

R. Lalfakzuala, Lalrinmuana, H. Lalruatsanga

Science Vision 16 (4), 166-170 | Published on 31 December 2016 |

Abstract

Development of plants is closely related with both the soil quality and the community of soil microorganisms, therefore plants are influenced by heavy metals directly transferring from the soil and indirectly via heavy metal impact on the microorganisms. Copper and Zinc are essential micronutrient, but above certain threshold concentration are toxic to both microbes and humans. Many heavy metals had been used to study the effects on several types of fungi. In this experiment, two heavy metals viz. ZnCl2 and CuSO4 of different concentrations (0.25 mM, 0.5 mM, 1 mM, 2.5 mM and 5 mM) were used to study their effect on selected fungi. The result from this experiment reveals that ZnCl2 and CuSO4 have negative effect on Trichoderma sp. in their growth rate and reduce the production of spores with the increasing concentration of the heavy metals. In the present study, CuSO4 showed greater inhibitory effect on the growth of Trichoderma sp. than the concentration of ZnCl2. Keywords: Heavy metals, hydrocarbons, mycoparasitism, Trichoderma.

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