INDOOR AEROMYCOFLORA OF THE CENTRAL LIBRARY OF VISVA-BHARATI, SANTINIKETAN WITH REFERENCE TO BOOK DETERIORATION

Indoor aeromycoflora of the Central Library, Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan was studied by using both Burkard personal volumetric air sampler and Andersen two stage sampler from August, 2016 to March, 2017. A total of 16 fungal spore types were identified from Burkard sampling and fungal colonies of 25 species were recorded from exposed petridishes containing PDA medium using Andersen sampler. Isolated fungi were identified on the basis of their character with the help of authentic literatures. In Burkard sampling, maximum fungi were recorded in October (16000 spores/m3 ) and minimum in January (4200 spores/m3 ). In Andersen petriplate method maximum fungal colonies were found in October (1836 CFU/m3 ) and minimum in August (423 CFU/m3 ). Biodeterioration is an undesirable change in the properties of a material caused by the vital activities of the deteriorating organisms. The present study was undertaken to find out the aeromycoflora of the library environment which are responsible to decay books and manuscript. A total of 10 book deteriorating fungi were isolated, of which Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus, Penicillium brefeldianum and Penicillium oxalicum showed their positive activity of cellulose degradation which is the major component of paper material. Aspergillus ochraceus showed no cellulose degrading activity, while Penicillium oxalicum exhibited maximum degradation of cellulose among other fungi. Key Words: Aeromycoflora, Book deterioration, cellulose degrading activity, Central library, Santiniketan, West Bengal.