A relative study of diversity of endophytic fungi in a Lianas Butea superba from Belpahari and their seasonal variation

Fungal endophytes from Butea superba were studied collecting from Belpahari of Jhargram district of West Bengal during three seasons-winter, summer and monsoon. A total of 159 plant tissue segments were resided by endophytic fungi among 225 tissue segments and endophytic fungi of the number of 201 were isolated from 159 various tisue specimens such as leaf, petiole and stem. The fungal isolates belong to the genera as many as 25, along with 5 unidentified fungi and few sterile mycelia. Beltrania sp., Lasiodiplodia sp., Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp., Pestalotiopsis sp. were found most commonly and dominantly found out of all isolates. Majority of the endophytic isolates were during winter season and least in summer. Colonization frequencies in winter, summer and monsoon are 73.33%, 60% and 78.66% respectively. This difference in CF % might be due to variation of moisture content in various seasons inside it and variation of absorbable nutrient contents in forest floor. It has been observed that microenvironment and microclimate were determining factors for assuring endophytic biodiversity.