Fungi Growing on Jute Fabrics Deteriorating under WeatherExposure and in Storage

T. CHAKRAVARTY, R. G. BOSE, AND S. N. BASU

Microbiology Section, Indian Jute Mills Association Research Institute, Calcutta, India

Received for publication April 5, 1962

ABSTRACT

CHAKRAVARTY, T. (Indian Jute Mills AssociationResearch Institute, Calcutta, India), R. G. BOSE, AND S.N. BASU. Fungi growing on jute fabrics deteriorating underweather exposure and in storage. Appl. Microbiol. 10:441-447. 1962.-Special media suitable for the isolation offungi growing on jute were developed. Species that wouldbetter resist sunlight, such as organisms with dark hyphaeand spores or closed fruit bodies, predominated on weather-exposed fabrics. Several strongly cellulolytic organismsnot previously implicated in fiber decomposition wereisolated from this source. On the other hand, the fungiobtained from jute materials damaged in storage weremostly of the familiar types. Most of the newly isolatedfungi are generally missed on ordinary media, but theyprobably play an important role in the natural decomposi-tion of jute materials.

A great deal of work has been done in recent years on themicrobiological deterioration of vegetable fibers. A largenumber of fungal species causing damage has been isolatedand identified, and their properties (e.g., cellulose-de-composing ability) have been studied. It has been realizedin the course of all this work that, although excessivehumidity is an essential general requirement for the growthof mildew, the nature of the flora may vary depending onother conditions. For example, preliminary indicationswere obtained in this laboratory that, although dark-colored fungi predominated on jute fabrics exposed to theweather (sun and rain), in shade these were suppressedby light-colored species (Basu and Ghose, 1950a). Marshand Bollenbacher (1949) discussed the preponderance ofdark fungi on weather-exposed cotton cloth. Zuck andDiehl (1946) noted that certain slow-growing angio-carpous fungi, formerly unrecognized, were primarilyinvolved in the decay of gray cotton duck during exposureto air.By Vheir very nature, jute materials in use are often

exposed to such climatic influences as sunlight, rain, anddew; if the moisture content of the fabrics remains highfor sufficient periods, fungal growth takes place, alongwith chemical changes in the fiber material due to actinicdegradation. Mildew damage also takes place quite oftenunder the totally different conditions of storage, sometimes

inside the bale. Routine isolations from such samples onthe usual nutrient media have repeatedly given only alimited number of species which are common contaminantson jute (e. g., Aspergillus terreus, A. fuminatus, Paecilo-myces varioti, Penicillium citrinum), but there have beenindications to suggest that other organisms, such asChaetomium species, played an important part but failedto appear on these media owing to slow growth or otherreasons.The need for using special media and techniques to

gain a more comprehensive picture of the flora growingon textile materials has been realized also by other workers.Heyn (1958) emphasized the importance of using differentmedia for isolation; Zuck and Diehl (1946) commented onthe inadequacy of media (like Malt Agar and filter-paperagar) commonly used for the isolation of fungi fromdamaged cotton materials.The main purpose of the present work was to study the

nature of the fungi that develop under the two importantconditions of damage of jute materials in practice, weatherexposure and storage, and then to compare these fungiwith those known from previous studies of a more generalnature on jute-decomposing fungi (Basu, 1948; Basu andGhose, 1950b; Basu and Bhattacharyya, 1951). Suitablemethods were first devised for the isolation of species.

MATERIALS AND METHODSCzapek solution, often used as the basal medium, had

the following composition: NaNO3, 2 g; K2HPO4, 0.75 g;KH2PO4, 0.25 g; MgSO 47H20, 0.5 g; KCl, 0.5 g; distilledwater, 1 liter; the pH was normally adjusted to 7.0. Forsolid media, 1.5 g of agar per 100 ml of solution were used.When using jute extract as a supplement, equal volumes

of Czapek solution having twice the salt concentrationgiven above and a hot-water extract of jute having twicethe concentration finally desired were mixed.

For the purpose of plating, clippings of infected fiberswere well mixed with 20 ml of molten agar media inPyrex tubes (15 by 2.5 cm) and poured into petri dishes(15 cm diam), which provided ample room for the growthof a large number of colonies.Media were sterilized at 15 psi for 15 min. When testing

an acidic pH, a drop of lactic acid syrup was added to eachtube before plating; this shifted the pH from 7.0 to about5.4.

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Fungi encountered throughout this work are recordedaccording to Jjmari reference numbers in Tables 1 and 2,those in the latter table being met with for the first timein this laboratory. The identification of organisms withnumbers from 168 to 180, excepting 169, was carried outby the Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew,England. Of the two sterile fungi, no. 181 had dark brown,highly septate, thick-walled hyphae, and no. 184 had darkbrown, beaded hyphae. Unidentified species 186 gave awhite, powdery growth, with single-celled conidia inchains.

RESULTSA common inoculum was prepared by thoroughly

mixing clippings of damaged yarns taken from 12 jute

TABLE 1. Fungi isolated that were known from previous work

Ijmari no. Fungus

2 Aspergillus flavu.s Link3 A. niger Van Tieghem5 A. fiavipes (Bain. & Sart.) Thom & Church6 A. terreus Thom10 Curvularia lunata (Wakker) Boedijn12 Aspergillus nidulans (Eidam) Winter14 A. fumigatus Fresenius17 Helminthosporium sp.18 Paecilomyces varioti Bainier24 Trichoderma viride Pers ex Fries29 Aspergillus ustus (Bainier) Thom & Church32 Cladosporium sp.37 Penicillium citrinum Thom59 Aspergillus oryzae type60 Alternaria sp.75 Chaetomium indicum Corda79 C. globosum Kunze119 Unidentified121 Penicillium variabile Sopp126 P. wortmanni Klocker131 Cephalosporium sp.140 Aspergillus japonicus Saito160 Pullularia pullulans (de Bary & Low) Berkhout

TABLE 2. Fungi encountered for the first time

Ijmari no. Fungus

168 Helminthosporium halodes Drechsler169 Curvularia tetramera (McKinney) Boedijn170 Thielavia sepedonium Emmons173 Sordaria hypocoproides Speg.174 Ascochytula sp.175 Sporotrichum sp.179 Unidentified (Ceratostomella-like)180 Nodulisporium sp.181 Sterile fungus182 Fusarium sp.183 Fusarium sp.184 Sterile fungus185 Fusarium sp.186 Unidentified187 Penicillium sp.188 Torula sp.

bags stained and damaged during storage. Approximatelyequal amounts of clippings (about 5 mg) were used ineach plating. The following 12 media were first tried.Medium 1: tap water agar with filter paper. A sheet of

sterilized filter paper (Whatman no. 1) was laid on thesolidified layer of the medium.Medium 2: Potato Dextrose Agar. Extract of 20 g of

peeled potatoes and 1.5 g of dextrose per 100 ml.Medium 3: Czapek agar. Czapek Solution Agar with 3

g of dextrose per 100 ml.Medium 4: Czapek agar with jute powder. Czapek Solu-

tion Agar with 1 g of jute powder per 100 ml.Medium 5: Czapek agar with CMC. Czapek Solution

Agar with 1 g of CMC (carboxymethyl cellulose, an I. C. I.product called Cellofas B) per 100 ml.Medium 6: Heyn's medium (Heyn, 1958). A sheet of

sterilized filter paper was laid on a solidified layer of agarmedium containing (per 100 ml of tap water): KNO3, 0.1g; K2HPO4, 0.1 g; MgSO4r7H20, 0.02 g; CaCl2, 0.01 g;FeCl3, 0.002 g.Medium 7: Czapek agar with filter paper. A sheet of

sterilized filter paper was laid on a solidified layer ofCzapek Solution Agar.Medium 8: Czapek agar with swollen cellulose. Czapek

Solution Agar containing 1 g of swollen cellulose per 100ml. Swollen cellulose was prepared from cotton celluloseby swelling with phosphoric acid, as suggested by Walseth(1952).Medium 9: Czapek agar with CMC and jute extract.

Czapek Solution Agar containing 1 g of CMC and extractof 5 g of jute per 100 ml.Medium 10: Czapek agar with cellodextrin. Czapek

Solution Agar containing (per 100 ml) 1 g of cellodextrin.To prepare the cellodextrin, powdered filter paper wasdissolved in 70% sulfuric acid (w/w) cooled in ice. After 1hr, the solution was poured into excess ice water withstirring and allowed to stand overnight. The supernatantfluid was poured off, and the precipitate was dialyzedagainst running tap water for 72 hr. After centrifugation,the precipitate was washed with 95 % alcohol, followed byacetone, and air-dried.Medium 11: Czapek agar with jute extract and filter paper.

A sheet of sterilized filter paper was laid on a solidifiedlayer of Czapek Solution Agar containing the extract of5 g of jute per 100 ml.Medium 12: Czapek agar with dextrose and jute extract.

Czapek Solution Agar containing 1 g of dextrose and theextract of 5 g of jute per 100 ml.

Six tubes were used for each medium; three wereacidified with lactic acid. Three incubation temperatures(27, 30, and 34 C) were tried; two tubes at each temper-ature, one with and one without acid, were used. Withfilter-paper media, the clippings were uniformly spread onthe sheets laid on the solid media.The petri dishes were examined after 7 days of incuba-

tion, and the intensity of growth of individual fungal

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species was recorded as heavy, moderate, or mild, de-pending on the number of colonies. The results are givenin Table 3.Almost all of the species isolated throughout this experi-

ment were covered by media 10 and 12 (Czapek agar withcellodextrin and Czapek agar with dextrose and juteextract). For further studies, media 4 and 11 were alsoincluded, as it was thought they might be particularlysuitable for fungi specifically decomposing jute andcellulose, respectively. Since the fungi grew better inacidic media, only the latter were used. The incubationtemperature was 30 C, since this seemed to give the bestgrowth without the risk of too quick drying.Fungi growing on weather-exposed jute and cotton can-

vases. A sample of jute canvas was used for weather-exposure tests; for the sake of comparison, a similar cottoncanvas was also included. The samples were exposed, fromabout the middle of August to the middle of October, onthe roof of the laboratory at an angle of 450 to the South.There were spells of sunshine and rainfall, the latter oftenheavy towards the beginning of the exposure period.Small pieces of fabric were cut out every week for plating.The petri dishes were examined after 7 days of incubation(Table 4).The majority of the fungi were found to be dark-colored,

and the number of species increased with the period ofexposure. It was further observed that a single medium oreven two media were not sufficient to bring out all of thespecies; thus, the unidentified fungus 186 appeared quitefrequently only on the jute powder medium, whereasSporotrichum sp. 175, Nodulisporium sp. 180, Fusariumsp. 185, and unidentified sp. 179 grew on the jute extract-filter paper medium.To determine whether there were any differences in

nature and intensity of fungal growth on the upper(exposed) and lower (shaded) surfaces of the samples,scrapings from both surfaces of jute and cotton canvasesexposed for 10 weeks were plated in the four media. Theresults (Table 5) show that there was not much differencein the variety of species growing on the two surfaces.Difference in intensity of growth was also slight, if any.Fungi growing on jute bags damaged in storage. Fibers

from four mildewed bags, some showing staining, wereplated on the four media. A fifth medium was tried asfollows. About 0.5 g of jute fiber was laid over glass beadsin 150-ml Pyrex conical flasks containing 10 ml of Czapeksolution. The flasks were sterilized, inoculated withclippings from the damaged portions of the samples, andincubated until fungal growth was well developed (about12 days). The results (Table 6) show that even on thefirst four media growth was mostly confined to the well-known species often previously isolated from suchmaterials. However, growth of Sordaria hypocoproides(no. 173) only on the jute fiber medium indicates thatother species may occasionally be missed on agar media.

Jellulolytic and jute-decomposing abilities of the new

TABLE 3. Fungi isolated on different mediafrom the same inocutum*

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

r.

c) -. 0

Mm

HM

m

HM

m

HMm

HMm

HM

m

HMm

H

Mm

HMm

HMm

HMm

HMm

Without acid

27 C

6, 18

14, 126

6, 18

126

6

6

12618, 79

6, 18

14, 79

6, 126

6, 12,14, 18

30 C

6, 18

12, 126

6, 14, 18

126

6, 18,126

6

126

6, 12618, 75

618, 126

6, 12,18, 79

6, 12614

612, 18,

140

34 C

6, 126

12,14

6, 14126

12, 18

6, 18

6

12

With acid

27 C

126

30 C

6, 18

6, 1818, 126 12,126

12

126

12, 140

18126

18

126

12614

6, 18

18, 126

18

6, 126 12612, 170

6, 18,126

6, 12,18, 79

614, 126

612, 18

6, 18126

181266, 14

612612

61814, 126

18, 126140

12

186, 126

6, 18

126

6, 12,126

18

126612, 18

6, 18,126

6, 18

12, 126

6, 1812612, 79

1266, 14

6, 1812612, 140

34 C

6, 12

612, 18,

12614

6, 12,18, 126

14

61812, 126

618126

6, 12

18, 126

6, 1214, 18,59,126

6

18, 79126

186126

61812, 79,

126

612614

61812, 14,79,126

* Figures refer to species numbers as given in Tables 1 and 2.Intensity of growth is expressed as H (heavy), 100 or more coloniesper plate; M (moderate), between 99 and 50 colonies per plate;m (mild), less than 50 colonies per plate.

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isolates. Filter-paper discs (about 5.5 cm) and jute fibers(about 0.4 g) were accurately weighed and placed in125-ml Pyrex conical flasks containing glass beads and 10ml of Czapek solution; these were sterilized and inoculatedwith the new isolates (excepting no. 183, 186, and 187).After incubation for 14 days at 30 C, the fungi were killedby a few drops of a mixture of ethyl alcohol and formalin,the surface growth scraped off as well as possible from thesubstrates, and the residues weighed after washing anddrying. The materials were conditioned at 65 % relative

humidity and 30 C before both initial and final weighing.Uninoculated but sterilized flasks were also included forcorrection of weight to obtain the true loss due to fungalgrowth alone. The results are given in Table 7.The majority of the new isolates decomposed either

jute or cellulose, or both, to a significant extent. Amongthese, Sordaria hypocoproides 173 was exceptional inattacking jute more strongly than pure cellulose, whilethe reverse effect was shown most remarkably by thenonsporulating fungus 181.

TABLE 4. Fungi isolated from weather-exposed jute and cotton canvases*

Czapek-agar Type Inten- Period of exposure, weeksmedium of sity ofwith canvas growth 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Jute powder Jute

Cotton

Cellodextrin Jute

Jute extractand filterpaper

Dextrose andjute extract

Cotton

Jute

Cotton

Jute

Cotton

Mm

Mm

HMm

HMm

HMm

HM

m

Hm

HMm

12

3, 29,126

10, 121

3, 6,14

119

18410, 186

79, 18610, 17,

184

184

121, 160

10

131, 181,184

160

10, 121,180

10, 160,183

16010, 184

181

2, 17, 160

18610, 184

10, 17,182, 184,186

184

10, 121,160

1060, 182,

184

16010, 79,

179

3, 10, 182,184

16010, 119

10160, 182

18610, 184

1017, 79,

182, 186

184

24, 160

10121, 182,

183, 184

16010, 179

1060, 79

175, 183,185

16010, 184

1017, 181,

182, 183

18610, 12

182, 186188

160, 184

10,12,168,182

10182160, 184

1012, 79

10

121, 175,183

16010, 17

1017, 121,

160,182

1866, 10, 12

10, 79,121, 182,186

160, 184

10, 12

10

32, 160,184

10, 18412, 79,

140, 160,179

10, 79,121, 182

16010, 174,

184

103, 17160, 182

18610, 79,

182,184

6, 79,121,182,186

18410, 160188

1018260, 160,

184

10121, 184

106, 60,

182175

1603,10,

184

1016017, 59

18610, 17,32

10, 182,186

160, 184

10, 188

10

60, 79,160,182,184

1012, 179,

182

10

60, 182

16010, 184,

188

1017, 79,

182

3210, 160,

184, 186

18610, 17, 32,

60, 182

16018410, 140

10, 174

160, 169,184

1012, 79,

160, 179,182

10, 182

24, 29

16010, 12, 140,

184

1741017, 121,

160

* Figures refer to species numbers as given in Tables 1 and 2. Intensity of growth expressed as H (heavy), 100 or more colonies perplate; M (moderate), between 99 and 50 colonies per plate; m (mild), less than 50 colonies per plate.

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TABLE 5. Fungi isolated from upper and lower surfaces of jute andcotton canvases after 10 weeks of exposure to weather*

!>-3 Jute canvas Cotton canvas

Czapek-agaredium with r.i@.o. Upper Lower Upper Lower

= surtace surface surface surface

Jtite powder H - 10M - 10m 32, 160 10, 32, 32, 60, 60, 186

184,186 160,184 79, 160,182,186

Cellodextrin H 160, 184 160, 184 - 10, 60M 10 10 10, 60, 79

79, 184m 79 60, 79 17, 160, 17, 182

182

Jute extract and H 184 10, 79 10, 60filter paper M 10, 179, 10, 60, 60 182

184 179m 60,79, 3, 32, 3, 182 17, 79,

160 160 179

Dextrose and H 160 160 60 10, 60jute extract M - 10 --

m 10 10, 60 3, 79, 3, 17160

* Figures refer to species numbers as given in Tables 1 and 2.Intensity of growth expressed as H (heavy), 100 or more coloniesper plate; M (moderate), between 99 and 50 colonies per plate;m (mild), less than 50 colonies per plate.

TABLE 6. Fungi isolated from jute bags damaged in storage*

Czapek solution t0medium with

S Sample I Sample 2 Sample 3 Sample 4

Jute powder and H _ 37and agar M 6, 14 6, 18, 37,

126m 18, 175 - - 14, 18, 58

Cellodextrin H 6, 14 6 187and agar M 175 - - -

m 6, 18 12, 14, 18, 2,3, 6,126 10, 14

Jute extract, H 14filter paper, M 175 6 6 37and agar m 6 5, 10 3, 12, 14, 2, 18

18, 126

Dextrose, jute H - 6, 126 37extract, and M 175 5, 14 18, 37agar m 6, 32 2, 6

Jute fiber M 173

* Figures refer to species numbers as given in Tables 1 and 2.Intensity of growth expressed as H (heavy), 100 or more coloniesper plate; M (moderate), between 99 and 50 colonies per plate;m (mild), less than 50 colonies per plate.

DISCUSSIONThe results obtained confirmed the expectation that, in

the analysis of fungi growing on vegetable textile materialsunder natural conditions, the use of ordinary laboratorymedia is not enough. Several significant species wereisolated only on special media, of which cellodextrin agarand Czapek's agar supplemented with jute extract provedbest, although so far no single medium has been foundwhich might be adequate for the growth of all relevantfungi. The advantage of cellodextrin as a carbon sourceno doubt lies in the fact that it eliminates superficialorganisms to some extent, while allowing somewhatquicker growth of cellulose decomposers than does cellu-lose itself. The callodextrin medium had the added ad-vantage of often producing transparent zones around thecolonies; this gives a rough idea of the cellulolytic capacityof the organism.The widespread need for micronutrients for the growth

and sporulation of fungi, including cellulose decomposers,has been demonstrated by many authors. Marked oligo-dynamic action of thiamine, biotin, and calcium has beenshown by Buston and Basu (1948), Basu and Bose (1958),and Basu (1951, 1952) with species of Chaetomium andMemnoniella echinata. These micronutrients are present injute, along with a number of vitamins and trace elements(Buston and Basu, 1948; Basu, 1951). Indications werealso obtained of the presence of as yet unidentified growthfactors in jute extract, and it was actually shown byBasu (1949) that leached jute and cotton canvases weremuch more resistant to rotting. The superior resultsobtained with jute extract added to media in the presentexperiments may therefore be considered as due to asupply of a suitable mixture of micronutrients. As a carbonsource in such media, a relatively low level of sugar seemsbest, giving restricted colonies and quicker sporulation,which favors isolation and identification.

TABLE 7. Decomposition of jute and cellulose by the newlyisolated fungi

Loss in weight dueFungi to fungal growth

inoculated Fungus_________(IjmariFugs()no.m) Jute Filter

fiber paper

168 Helminthosporium halodes 9.8 27.1169 Curvularia tetramera 18.9 36.6170 Thielavia sepedonium 25.9 45.8173 Sordaria hypocoproides 27.3 13.2174 Ascochytula sp. 10.3 36.1175 Sporotrichum sp. 11.1 10.9179 Unidentified (Ceratostomella-like) 2.8 17.3180 Nodulisporium sp. 4.1 21.6181 Sterile fungus 3.1 34.2182 Fusarium sp. 3.7 20.7184 Sterile fungus 0.5 0.9185 Fusarium sp. 7.5 13.8188 Torula sp. 0.0 2.8

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Organisms which responded markedly to jute extractneed further study from the physiological point of view.So does Sordaria hypocoproides, which seemed to growbetter in a liquid medium containing jute fibers than onsolid media, including jute-agar. Purely physical factorsmay be involved here, and this fungus is probably illus-trative of species that are missed on agar media, eventhough strongly infecting the original fiber.Comparing the flora of weather-exposed jute and cotton

canvases, we found some similarity, although Helmintho-sporium halodes and Nodulisporium sp. were isolated onlyfrom jute, while Curvularia tetramera, Sporotricum sp.,sterile fungus 181, and Fusarium spp. 183 and 185 wereisolated only from cotton. Of the three Fusaria, 182occurred both on jute and cotton, but far more frequentlyon the latter. Sometimes the geographical factor may beimportant; for example, Memnoniella echinata, found tobe dominant in decomposing cellulosic materials in theSouth West Pacific areas (Siu, 1951), was not encounteredhere in these or previous experiments. Apart from occur-rence, it was found that the ability to decompose jute andpure cellulose sometimes varied greatly; cellulose wasoften decomposed to a greater extent than jute, and thisagrees with our previous similar experiments, using juteand cotton fibers and better-known organisms (Basu,1948; Bose, 1952). The rate of loss of tensile strength ofcotton canvas had also been found by Basu (1949) to begreater than that of jute canvas, when the samples wereexposed to mixed infection inside a humidity chamber.In the present weather-exposure experiments, visualexamination revealed no perceptible difference in degreeof attack; it is likely that the difference was narrowedowing to the increased susceptibility of jute caused by theaction of sunlight (Basu and Ghose, 1952; Bose, 1961).Of the 15 fungi showing heavy or moderate growth on

weather-exposed jute and cotton canvases, 5 belonged tothe Dematiaceae family. Organisms 181 and 184, which donot form any definite spores, also had dark hyphae andmay be classed with these. Of the rest, Aspergillus nigerand A. terreus form black and deep-brown conidia, re-spectively. The occurrence of all of these species supportsthe belief that pigments in fungi offer protection againstultraviolet light. Furthermore, Chaetomium globosum andAscochytula sp. form perithecia and pycnidia, respectively;such closed fruiting structures probably also resist sunlightbetter. Zuck and Diehl (1946) recorded the growth ofangiocarpous fungi under weather-exposure conditions.Only 4 of the 15 fungi isolated showed hyaline hyphae aswell as hyaline and open conidia.A change in the composition of the flora was noticeable

with the progress of exposure; for example, Cladosporiumsp. 32, which is known to be slow growing, appeared onlytowards the end. With jute, at least, the gradual changein the composition of the fiber due to sunlight and rainmay have altered the flora. That little difference in in-tensity or variety of growth was observed between the

upper and lower surfaces was somewhat unexpected, sincethere would be differences in the amount of light andprobably also of moisture. Zuck and Diehl (1946) observedmore prominent growth on the under surface of exposedgray cotton cloth.

Jute bags deteriorating in storage yielded only fourspecies not previously found in this laboratory, namely,Sporotrichum sp., Sordaria hypocoproides, Thielavia sepe-donium, and Penicillium 187. Of these, the last 3 were notencountered on exposed canvases, which yielded all of theother 13 species recorded in Table 2. This differencecan be attributed to greater chances of contamination onexposure to the atmosphere than in storage (usually inbales), and to greater variability in external conditions(e. g., sunlight and moisture) and composition of the fibersubstrate under weathering conditions, affording oppor-tunities to a greater variety of species to grow. Anydifference due to the use of different fabrics, i.e., canvasand bag, is likely to be slight.

Of the newly encountered species, none of which hadpreviously been found on jute, all but four were isolatedfrom jute in the present experiments. The results ofweight-loss experiments (Table 7) show that some of thesemay be important jute decomposers, particularly inweather exposure. Fungi which attack cotton or de-compose pure cellulose have been more thoroughlysearched for, but, of the organisms found to be activecellulose decomposers in this study, so far as we know thegenera Ascochytula and Nodulisporium have not yet beenso implicated. Sporotrichum has been described as havingweak cellulolytic activity (White et al., 1948). No mentionis found of Curvularia tetramera, Sordaria hypocoproides,and Helminthosporium halodes, although several otherspecies of these genera are recorded in connection withcotton decomposition (Siu, 1951). Thielavia sepedonium(White et al., 1948) and various Fusarium species areknown in this context. The sterile dark-colored fungus 181proved to be one of the strongest cellulose decomposersin this study; in the program sponsored by the U.S.Army Quartermaster Corps and the National DefenseResearch Committee during World War II, 4,500 fungiwere isolated from exposed cotton textiles, out of which506 proved to be sterile, comprising both cellulolytic andnoncellulolytic types (Siu, 1951). From field cotton, Heyn(1958) isolated a strongly cellulolytic nonsporulatingfungus with purple hyphae. These results indicate thatsterile fungi may play an important role in the decomposi-tion of cellulosic fibers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank the Research Director,Indian Jute Mills Association Research Institute, forpermission to publish these results. They are also gratefulto the Director and staff of the Commonwealth Myco-logical Institute for identifying seven species of fungi.

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LITERATURE CITED

BASU, S. N. 1948. Fungal decomposition of jute fibre and cellulose.Part II-The effect of some environmental factors. J. TextileInst. 39:T237-T248.

BASU, S. N. 1949. Effect of the water-soluble matter in jute on themicrobiological deterioration of the fibre. J. Sci. Ind. Research(India) 8B:73-77.

BASU, S. N. 1951. Significance of calcium in the fruiting of Chaeto-mium species, particularly Chaetomium globosum. J. Gen.Microbiol. 5:231-238.

BASU, S. N. 1952. Chaetomium brasiliensis Batista and Pontual:nutritional requirements for growth and fruiting. J. Gen.Microbiol. 6:199-204.

BASU, S. N., AND J. P. BHATTACHARYYA. 1951. Mildew of complexvegetable fibres. J. Sci. Ind. Research (India) 10B:91-93.

BASU, S. N., AND R. G. BOSE. 1958. Effect of biotin, manganeseand calcium on the growth and fruiting of Chaetomium species.J. Sci. Ind. Research (India) 17C:15-16.

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