Anti-dermatophytic activity of Chrysosporium keratinophillum against species of the genera Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton floccosum was tested in vitro. When C. keratinophillum and different species of dermatophytes were inoculated on Sabouraud's dextrose agar plates 2 cm apart, no antagonistic effect of C. keratinophillum on the mycelial growth of dermatophytes was observed. However, conidia production was not observed on the hyphae of Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton tonsurans and E. floccosum grown near C. keratinophillum. The secretory substances released by C. keratinophillum inhibited the growth of T. rubrum, T. tonsurans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. interdigitale and E. floccosum at a concentration of 2,000 microg ml(-1) when tested by broth dilution technique. No inhibition of the growth was observed for Microsporum gypseum and Microsporum nanum. The anti-fungal activity of secretory substances released by C. keratinophillum was recorded to be heat stable. Results of the present study suggest that the anti-dermatophytic activity of the secretory substances of C. keratinophillum on T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes var. interdigitale, T. tonsurans and E. floccosum may be responsible in part, for the absence of these dermatophyte species in soil. Considering the global prevalence of C. keratinophillum in soil one may speculate that the anti-dermatophytic activity of C. keratinophillum is one of the early events for the evolutionary divergence of saprophytic archi-dermatophytes to obligate parasitic dermatophyte species.

A total of 887 pellets of different avifauna were screened for the presence of Cryptococcus neoformans. One hundred and six of 887 samples (12%) yielded Cr. neoformans in culture. The report on the isolation of Cr. neoformans from the pellets of the crow appears to be new and of greater significance because of the ubiquitous prevalence of this bird in India. The prevalence of both MAT a and MAT alpha mating types were recorded. The serotype D was predominant over serotype A. The findings of the present study reveal the growing diverse ecological niche of Cr. neoformans in a the pellets of various avifauna in India.

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Bacteria that colonise plant roots and promote plant growth are referred to as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR). Rhizobium bacterial isolated from soil samples (PEC 1 and PEC 2) collected from prathyusa college garden soil. The emergence of seedlings, from the seed at a height of 2 mm was treated as germination. PEC1 and PEC2 inoculated seed germination, coefficient and vigor index value remarkably changed compared to control groups. PEC2 showed better responses compared to PEC 1 and control groups.

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