Abstract

The current study on some species of genus Aspergillus revealed that any of the general purpose media like potato dextrose agar (PDA) or Rose-Bengal agar is only useful for identification of the molds upto genus level; however, the use of differential culture media like Czapek dox agar (CZ), Czapek yeast agar (CYA) and Malt extract agar (MEA) for their growth to study various macroscopic features like colony color (both conidium and reverse), colony diameter and microscopic features like conidia length, width, shape, ornamentation, stipe length, width, shape, ornamentation and branching Pattern is a key factor in the identification of these molds to species level. Different species of genusAspergillus isolated from the lake water samples showed slightly too large variations in their micro and macro morphological features leading to their species level identification. This study further revealed that follow up of the micro and macro morphological feature of the molds isolated from soil, water, damaged buildings, damp walls, paper or other surfaces is a reliable and simple technique for their identification.

Key words: Apsergillus, morphological observation, culture, Dal Lake, Kashmir.