Abstract
THE AIM of the present work is to isolate and identify the different fungi from the debris of the brown outer scaly leaves of Colocasia corm. The isolated fungi were tested for cellulase producing activity. The species were primarily recognized on morphological bases and then identified on molecular level. The Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) domain of the ribosome large subunit (LSU) comprising the ITS1/5.8S/ITS2 regions (>= 500bp) was subjected to Sanger sequencing for the new isolates using primer pair ITS1/ITS4. BLAST analysis indicated entities of the eight isolated fungal isolates. Among the isolates, three of the species were found closely related to Fusarium solani whereas, the other five isolations were found to be closely related to F. proliferatum, F. fujikuroi, F. equiseti, Penicillium lanosum and P. flavigenum. Screening of the fungal species for cellulase production was performed on cellulose agar plates using clear zone technique. The results showed that out of theses isolates, the maximum zone of clearance was obtained for isolate that is closely related to P. lanosum, whereas, the minimum zone of clearance was recorded for isolates closely related to Fusarium solani. Penicillium isolate showing significant potentiality in cellulase production will be a subject for a detailed investigation.