Fungal endophytes of an aquatic weed Marsilea minuta Linn

Endophytic fungi are the organisms that colonize a plant without causing apparent harm to the host at any time in their life cycle. Endophytes from different angiosperms are widely studied however such studies from Pteridophytes are rare. In this study, the plant Marsilea minuta, an aquatic Pteridophyte belonging to the family Marsileaceae was explored for the presence of endophytic fungi. The plant was collected from four different places in and around Chennai (Avadi, Ambattur, Chengalpet and Guduvanchery). A total of 800 segment consisting leaflets, stolens, runners and roots (200 segments each) were investigated for the presence of endophytes. The study resulted in isolation of 574 colonies belonging to 17 fungal species among which 14 forms the
Hyphomycetes, three forms the Coelomycetes and one form the non sporulating morphospecies. The data obtained were analysed statistically for relative density, colonization frequency, Species diversity indices like Gleason index, Shannon index, and Simpson’s dominance index.