ACTA SCIENTIFIC MICROBIOLOGY (ISSN: 2581-3226) Volume 3 Issue 3 March 2020 Bacterial Load of Clostridium Perfringens in the Aquatic Environment of Dal Lake, Kashmir Mehak Hafeez 1 , Irfan Ahmad 1 *, Sabia Qureshi 2 , Zahid Kashoo 2 , Shaheen Farooq 2 , Shakeel Wani 2 , Oyas Asmi 3 , Feroz Shah 4 , Bilal Ahmad 5 , Farooz Bhat 6 , Sumaira Rashid 1 , Hussna 1 and Nakeer Razak 1 1 Division of Fish Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India 2 Division of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India 3 Division of Fish Nutrition and Biochemistry, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India 4 Division of Fish Health Management, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India 5 Division of Social Sciences, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India 6 Division of Fisheries Resource Management, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India *Corresponding Author: Irfan Ahmad, Division of Fish Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India. Research Article Abstract Keywords: C. perfringens; Anaerobe; 16S rRNA; PCR; CFU Received: January 30, 2020 Published: February 08, 2020 © All rights are reserved by Irfan Ahmad., et al. The study was aimed to investigate the presence of Clostridium. perfringens (C. perfringens) and estimate its bacterial load in the aquatic environment of the Dal Lake, Kashmir. A total of 45 water samples (9 from each site) were collected randomly from 5 dif- ferent sites viz., Dhobi Ghat, Telbal Nallah, Char-Chinari, Centaur Lake View and Dalgate of the Dal Lake. Using species-specific 16S rRNA gene amplification, all the 45 (100%) water samples were found to be positive for C. perfringens confirming the presence of C. perfringens in the lake. The overall C. perfringens load in water samples was found to be in the range of 9.2 x 10 CFU/ml to 1.87 x 10 2 CFU/ml, which is much less than the critical CFU level of C. perfringens (10 5 -10 8 ). The highest average CFU/ml value was found at Dalgate (1.87 x 10 2 ), followed by Telbal Nallah (1.78 x 10 2 ), Dhobi Ghat (1.20 x 10 2 ), Centaur Lake View (1.05 x 10 2 ) and Char-Chinari (9.2 x 10), respectively. Statistically, it was observed that there is a significant difference in average CFU/ml values of C. perfringens at the five sites of the lake (P < 0.01). The current study documented the presence of C. perfringens in the aquatic environment of the Dal Lake for the first time in the Kashmir valley. Introduction A large number of infectious diseases are transmitted primar- ily through water supplies contaminated with human and animal excreta [25]. There have been many outbreaks of water borne dis- eases at the global level but the situation is especially serious in de- veloping countries due to their high prevalence and mortality [9]. DOI: 10.31080/ASMI.2020.03.0512 Citation: Irfan Ahmad., et al. “Bacterial Load of Clostridium Perfringens in the Aquatic Environment of Dal Lake, Kashmir". Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.3 (2020): 01-06.