Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231-6345 (Online) An Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jls.htm 2013 Vol. 3 (3) July-September, pp.76-80/Das et al. Research Article 76 ENDOPHYTIC FUNGAL ASSEMBLAGES IN AN AQUATIC WEED: EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES (MART.) SOLMS Panna Das 1 , Gopal Debnath 2 and *Ajay Krishna Saha 2 1 Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar-799 022, Tripura, India 2 Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar-799 022, Tripura, India *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT We have investigated endophytic fungi in leaves, petiole and root of an aquatic weed Eichhornia crassipes. A total of 33 fungi and sterile hypha were identified from 146 isolates. Sterile hypha was isolated from all the plant parts. Mucor racemosus and Cladosporium cladosporioides possess the high isolation rate isolated from root and petiole, respectively in the month of February. Key Words: Endophytes, Fungi, Eichhornia crassipes, Isolates and Month INTRODUCTION Endophytes reside asymptomatically with in most living plant tissues examined to date (Schulz et al., 2002; Li et al., 2007 and Tao et al., 2008) and are found in diverse habitats ranging from coastal mangroves (Kumaresan and Suryanarayanan, 2001) to temperate and alpine areas (Espinosa-Garcia and Langenheim, 1990). Endophytic fungi have been recovered from healthy tissues of plant species growing in different biomes such as tundra, dry deserts, and tropical rain- forests from the Arctic to Antarctica (Luiz et al., 2012). Individual plants may be the host to one or more endophytes and many endophytes may colonize certain hosts, suggesting that there may be many undiscovered endophyte species (Petrini, 1991; Strobel and Daisy, 2003; Huang et al., 2007). Endophytes play a major role in plant community health by providing resistance to hosts against different biotic and abiotic stresses (Kharwar et al., 2008; Gond et al., 2010). Fungal species that establish an endophytic role may contribute to the well-being of the host plant by producing bioactive secondary metabolites (Gao et al., 2010; Schulz et al., 2002). Different works carried out so far regarding the role of endophytes in host plants indicate that they can stimulate plants growth, increase disease resistance, improve plant’s ability to withstand environmental stresses and recycle nutrients (Tayung and Jha, 2008). The water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms is an invasive plant which is native of the Amazon basin and whose capacity for growth and propagation causes major conservation problems with considerable socioeconomic repercussions (Téllez et al., 2006). In the present scenario, we have undertaken this work to study the endophytic fungal assemblages in different parts (leaf, petiole and root) of E. crassipes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Site Description and Collection To analyse the diversity of endophytes; plant samples of E. crassipes were collected from a pond in Durjoynagar, Tripura, northeast India. Samples were kept in closed sterile polythene bags and processed within 24 hrs of collection. Surface Sterilization and Preparation of Plant Material Segments of lamina were taken from the middle portion of fresh healthy leaves, segments from the basal part of the petiole and segments from the fresh root were taken with the help of sterile scissor. The segments were about 0.5 cm in length. All segments were dipped in 70% ethanol for 5 seconds and rinsed in sterile distilled water for 10 seconds.