The Effects Of Fungal Diseases

Stachybotrys Chartarum or more commonly known as Black Mold is by definition a possibly toxic mold that can produce toxins called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are produced by specific strains of mold which when found in food can cause foodborne illness, which in some cases may become fatal. There are varying mycotoxins found within fungi but this is one of the deadlier mycotoxins versus other mycotoxins, trichothecene. Despite the fact that many people do have mold allergies, this isn’t an allergic it is a reaction to trichothecene that is brought into your body by an outside source, breaking cells down. The purpose of this essay to talk about why black mold is such a serious issue, especially in food service and how it may be prevented.

This experiment is designed to test the allelopathy of two different treatments, Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus cinerea) and Lemon (Citrus limon). The two treatments will be tested on radish seeds (Raphanus sativus) to investigate the effect of the treatments on the germination of the radish seeds. Allelopathy is the beneficial or harmful effects that one plant has on another plant by the release of chemicals. Allelopathy studies the interactions among plants, fungi, algae and bacteria with the organisms living in a certain ecosystem, interactions that are mediated by the secondary metabolites produced and exuded into the environment (Francisco A Macías, José MG Molinillo, Rosa M Varela, Juan CG Galindo 2007). The plants use

4. Know the classification of fungal diseases (mycoses). 30% of known fungal species produce mycoses, which are fungal diseases of plants, animals, and humans. Classifications of fungi are; Zygomycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota.

Fungicides are a class of pesticides that are designed to kill or limit the growth of harmful fungi. "Understanding mechanisms of fungicide action and toxicity is important because humans and domesticated animals encounter these pesticides through a wide variety of applications. In agriculture, fungicides are used to protect tubers, fruits and vegetables during storage or are applied directly to ornamental plants, trees, field crops, cereals and turf grasses" (Hasan 2010: 349). It is very easy to inadvertently and indirectly consume fungicides as a result because of their ubiquitous use, even though many of the components of fungicides can be harmful to human health, animal health and to the environment as a whole.

All humans have come into contact with some form of fungi at some point in their lives. Sometimes fungi produce large mushroom like structures, or sometimes they just appear as small wisps of hair. But with so many different forms and variations of fungi, sometimes they become hard to classify, and there is confusion as to whether it maybe a plant or bacteria. Buckholz et al (2016) state that the fungal kingdom deserves to be neither a prokaryote not a plant. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that contain a membrane bound nucleus. They are also heterotrophic and consume their carbon. The main difference between animals and fungi is that fungi perform their digestion externally (Buckholz et al. 2016). This leads to the importance of fungi: decomposing. Fungi maintain crucial processes in terrestrial ecosystems as decomposers of dead plant tissues and mutualistic partners of almost all terrestrial multicellular organisms (Heilmann-Clausen et al. 2015). Without fungi,

Most mushrooms grow on the ground where they help recycle dead leaves and keep soil healthy.

In the United States many different parasitic organisms are causing tree epidemics, endangering the environment and health of their communities. One of the tree epidemics that has occurred was the Chestnut blight. The American Chestnut was a malleable resource used for its widely used wood and its chestnuts which fed animals and people alike. Its importance made the discovery of a fungus called Cryphonectria parasitica, also known as Chestnut blight, so devastating (Hebard). Importing of Japanese trees brought this Chestnut blight fungus to North American chestnuts and it had infected chestnuts throughout America by the early 1900’s. The Chestnut blight had killed over 3.5 billion trees by the 1940’s (Conolly). Today, mere dozens of healthy American Chestnuts live as a threatened species, while most American Chestnuts grow from the roots of trees already killed by the Chestnut blight, passing the Chestnut blight fungus to the new growing trees preventing them from living nearly as long as American Chestnuts used to (Horton).

oligospora) is one of the best researched nematophagous fungi, with strains found in diverse soils including decaying wood and metal-polluted soils, and thus lived as saprophytes (Yang, et al., 2011). Over the years, chemical control of nematode parasite species is very expensive and does risk affecting the agricultural ecosystem, by having detriments on beneficial predators and microbes. This has raised the concern in seeking biological control methods such as using A. oligospora. Hyphal trap formation is dependent on environmental conditions; parasitic nematodes generally attack the roots of plants hence, A. oligospora tends to colonize the roots and is advantageous for biological control. (Singh, et al., 2012) The fungi's broad range of adaptability and development make them ideal candidates for regulating parasitic nematodes of plants and animals in agriculture since the trapping encompasses adhesion, penetration, and immobilization of nematodes (Zhao, et al.,

The fungus Beauveria Bassiana will be the most effective in killing garden pests because of its ability to create spores that will spread quickly from

In the past decade, campaigns against excessive use of herbicides and pesticides to control pests and weeds as well as the use of other chemicals controlling plant diseases have been on the rise spearheaded by environmentalists.

Each species of entomopathogenic fungi has the ability to effect different organisms, which is shown in Table 1. (ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI AS BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS) It is known that insects make excellent vectors for plant pathogens, and using entomopathogenic fungi kills those vectors, thus slowing the spread of the disease in certain areas. On golf courses, the most common vectors include chinch bugs, bill bugs and aphids which are usually very small and occur in large numbers. The fungi in this case is only harmful towards a specific host — which means it is safe for humans and other organisms in the environment. (ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI AS BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS) The fungus is first introduced to the turf, which can then be fed upon (or just touched) by a susceptible vector organism, causing inoculation by the fungus. The fungus can enter the body by contact, ingestion or through other orifices in the body. Once inside, the fungus can grow and reproduce, eventually becoming severely toxic and killing the

It must be highlighted that cotton plant which was genetically engineered in China affected its agriculture as Bt cotton plant produced a chemical and killed the cotton bollworm which proved very beneficial as the pests in cotton and its neighboring fields which included soybeans, crop etc were killed hence increasing their production. (3)

Beauveria is well known genera of Entomopathogenic fungi. It is worldwide registered for its mycoinsecticides properties. Beauveria bassiana (Bb) and Beauveria brongniarti are used to control insect pests (5). Beauveria bassiana is a filamentous fungus which belongs to the class Deuteromycete, that grow naturally in soil. It acts as pathogen to various insects and causes white muscardine disease (6-10). Bb has a wide range of host and insect pests. It can be used against vectors in human diseases (11). Wang et al., (12) and Liz et al., (13) reported that Bb is used to control insects in forests such as pine caterpillar and silkworm. The penetration of EPF such as B.bassiana is through insect cuticle which mainly consists of polysaccharide

Investigation of in vitro and in vivo antifungal activity of different plant acetonic extracts against fungal skin isolates

he use of safe alternatives to fungicides has become an important matter of urgency due to their toxicity and development of new strains have capabilities to overcome the efficiency of fungicides. In the present study, six treatments, i.e. the control (water only), Penconazole fungicide (5ml/20L), dipotassium phosphate (50, 75 and 100 Mm.), Nanosilica (300, 500 and 750 ppm.), Propolis extract (5, 10 and 15%), garlic extract (5 and 10 %) and Alga Grow-4 (1ml/l.) as alternative means to fungicides were investigated against zinnia powdery mildew. In vitro study showed that dipotassium phosphate and garlic extract were the most effective in reducing the conidial germination percentage. The reduction percentage was increased by increasing the