ASSESSMENT OF SOIL MICROBIAL POPULATION IN THORN FOREST AND MOIST DECIDUOUS FOREST, WESTERN GHATS, TAMIL NADU

N. KANAGARAJ¹, R.K. KALEESWARI², M. TILAK^3
1Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu, 641301, India
²Soil Science & Agrl.Chemistry, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu, 641301, India
³Agrl. Microbiology, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu, 641301, India

Received : 20-06-2017     Accepted : 07-09-2017     Published : 28-09-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 9       Pages : 946 - 948
Int J Microbiol Res 9.9 (2017):946-948

Keywords : Bacteria, Fungi, Actinomycetes, Tropical thorn forest, Tropical moist deciduous forest
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : I am very grateful to the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship funded by University Grants Commission for supporting this research as part of Ph.D program
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

The study was carried out to assess the microbial populations in the Western Ghats. The soil samples were collected from tropical thorn and moist deciduous forest at the depth of 15 cm. The bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes population was assessed using serial dilution and plating technique. Among microbes, the fungal population was observed to be highest in thorn forest (60.07 x103cfu’s g-1of soil) and moist deciduous forest (112.60 x103cfu’s g-1 of soil). The comparative study between this two forest types, showed the results of lowest bacterial (27.60 x 105cfu’s g-1), actinomycetes (35.13 x 104 cfu’s g-1) and fungi (60.07 x103cfu’s g-1) population in tropical thorn forest

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