A preliminary investigation on airborne fungi of pedestrian underpasses

Pedestrian underpasses are the unique
environment where air transaction with outdoor is
complicated, inducing interest to study the air quality
for the presence of microbes. Thus, the study on the
presence of airborne fungi from 11 different under�passes in Chennai city was conducted. The airborne fungi was monitored by exposing potato dextrose agar strips in reuter centrifugal sampler (RCS). A total of 1735 colonies were isolated from underpasses and the control site recorded only 1255 colonies. Total average colony forming unit of underpasses and control site was 157.7 CFU/m3 of air and
114.09 CFU/m3 of air, respectively. Altogether 22
species classified in 16 genera were isolated from both
the environments. Of which 21 species belonging to 16
genera were isolated from underpasses whereas the
control site yielded 15 species belonging to 12 genera.
The isolated species were categorized into three
species belonging to Zygomycota, 2 species to
Ascomycota and the remaining to Mitosporic fungi.
The air sample in the underpass is dominated by the
presence of the fungi, Aspergillus flavus, Curvularia
lunata and A.niger, whereas the control is dominated
by Cladosporium cladosporioides, Aspergillus niger
and A. flavus. The study proves the underpasses are a
favorite niche for the proliferation of fungal propag�ules and proper maintenance of underpass is
recommended.