Full Length Research Paper

Fungi in the atmospheric air of Çanakkale province in Turkey

Tülay Bican Suerdem¹ and Ismet Yildirim²*

¹Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology, 17020 Çanakkale, Türkiye.

²Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 17020 Çanakkale, Türkiye.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: yismet@comu.edu.tr. Tel.: ++90 (286) 2180018/1355 ext. Fax: ++90 (286) 2100545.

Accepted 24 June, 2009

   Abstract

In this study, the variability of airborne fungal flora and their monthly distribution in the atmosphere in 5 different locations of Çanakkale Province (Turkey) were investigated by means of the petri plate gravitational method from April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001. Samples were taken from air by exposing petri dishes with malt extract agar (MEA) and rose bengal chloramphenicol (RBCA) media for 15 min. Then growing colonies were enumerated. Fungi were isolated in 360 petri dishes used and 4105 colonies were counted. By identification of these isolations, 19 genera (Cladosporium, Alternaria, Penicillium, Phoma, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Chaetomium, Chrysosporium, Didymocladium, Doratomyces, Drechslera, Fusarium, Humicola, Mucor, Rhizoctonia, Rhizopus, Sporotricum, Trichoderma, Ulocladium), 21 species blonging to 10 genera and Mycellia sterilia were determined. The most predominants were Cladosporium (27.5%), Alternaria (18.5%), M. sterilia (13.5%), Phoma (7.9%), Penicillium (6.7%) and Aspergillus (5.9%). In addition most of fungi isolated were important aeroallergens and phythopathogens.

Key words: Aeroallergen, Çanakkale, fungi, outdoor air, phythopatogen.