The content of this web page focuses on phylum Glomeromycota of fungi that includes Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These fungi symbiotically associate with plant roots and benefit the plant nutrition, growth and survival, due to their greater exploitation of soil for nutrients. These obligate symbionts associate with most of the plants in diverse habitat worldwide including bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms and represent an important component of biodiversity. In fact, AM fungi or AMF have been suggested to play key role in determining the distribution and abundance of plant species in any ecosystem.
Our NCC-in-charge of our college, Lt.(Dr.) Ashwani Kumar is followed by cadet senior under officer Vibhor Nair for the session 2017-18.
The present database project was originally aimed at monitoring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi distribution patterns and building a checklist on their taxonomic and biodiversity status across different states of India under Delhi University sponsored Innovation Project (SAC-206) in 2013. In 2015 the project received further grants from University Grants Commission (UGC) for extending the study up to 2018. In the first phase of the study (2013-2015) occurrence of about 148 species of AM fungi was reported across 18 states of India namely: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (Gupta et al. 2014), Under UGC project (2015 onwards) the study has been extended to 8 more states namely Delhi, Tripura and Manipur reporting occurrence of 161 species. rRNA sequence data for these fungi is added as Phylogenetic Map and distribution data is available as Google Map. Results of species isolation done during the project are uploaded. Further details of the project can be explored at following links.
