AM FUNGAL DIVERSITY IN THE PLANT COMMUNITY OF VELLIANGIRI HILLS, WESTERN GHATS, COIMBATORE.

The ecological mechanisms of AM fungal diversity ensure successful management for conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems. Here the study contacted to estimate the diversity of AM fungal and their function in Velliangiri hills, Western Ghats, Coimbatore. The community structure of AM fungi, as determined by number of spores present in 100g of soil, varied with sampling time in plant community. And all so the morphological identification was done by microscopic characters. Soil properties like pH, macro and micro nutrient and the climate data were collected for all tree years to know their impact on fungal community. The overall result conform the root colonization and spore population were higher in winter season and also lower in rainy. Totally 30 AM fungal species from 10 genera were identified the important genera were Acaulospora, Ambispora, Claroideoglomus, Funneliformis, Gigaspora, Glomus, Racocetra, Redeckera, Rhizophagus and Scutellospora. Among these five genera, Glomus occurred most frequently. In general, Rhizophagus fasciculatus was found to be most abundant species. Consequently, this result conform the rich diversity in the study area. This symbiotic relationship had important roles in establishment of plant community of this area.


INTRODUTION
There are many groups of fungi can establish associations with roots for facilitate plant growth and increase stress tolerance. Plants associated with mycobiota comprise taxonomically diverse, particularly mycorrhizal symbioses are extensively described due to the important role in improving plant nutrition and stress tolerance (1). AM fungi are integral components of most terrestrial ecosystems, with complex interactions between plants and production of glomalin (AM Fungal hyphal glycoprotein) may play a vital role in soil aggregation (2). The AM Fungal are essential for the function of ecosystems by the influence in plant diversity patterns in a variety of ecosystems. Where the mycelial network of AM fungi extends greatly increases the surface area for the uptake of immobile nutrients and they build up the macroporous structure in soil that allows penetration of water and air and thereby prevents erosion. They have great potential in the restoration of disturbed land and low fertility soil (3).
Mycorrhizal fungi usually enhance overall plant performance such as seed germination, early plant establishment, crucial steps in plant cycles and increased reproductive output (4). Moreover, the importance of mycorrhiza and the possibilities of its practical application strengthen the need for identification and cultivation _ of mycorrhizal fungi of natural plants (5). There is not enough focus on the mycorrhizal association with medicinal plants. Their species in different ecosystems are affected by edaphic factors, so it is necessary to investigate the spatial distribution and colonization of AM fungi in medicinal plants (6). Hence, in the present study contacted to estimate the diversity of AM fungal and their function in Velliangiri hills of Western Ghats.

Study area
The Velliangiri hills from a major hill range in Western Ghats and a part of Nilgriri Biosphere Reserve of southern Western Ghats of Coimbatore district at a distance of 40 km. The geographical position between the longitude 6°-40' and 7°-10' and E latitude 10°-55' and 11°N with the altitudinal range having the altitude 1840 ms above msl. The boundary of Velliangiri hills is Palghat district of Kerala at western side, Nilgiri mountains at northern side, Siruvani hills at the south and plains of Coimbatore district of eastern side ( Fig. 1 & 2).

Sample collection
Root samples and rhizosphere soil samples of 25 plant species growing in area of Velliangiri hills were collected in all three different seasons in the period of January, 2013 to December, 2015. For identification and nomenclature of the plant species *Correspondence: Dr. N. Nagarajan, Associate Professor, Department of Botany, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore -59 641 029, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail.: nnagarajan7@yahoo.com the following manual was used (7). The root and soil samples were transported to the laboratory immediately after collection. The roots were fixed in formaldehyde-acetic acidethanol (FAA) solution for further process (8). The soil sample was air dried and stored at 40 C until processed. Each soil samples was used for chemical analysis, spore counts and classification in to various types and multiplication, concentration and separation of AM fungal spore for identification.

Soil analysis and climate data
The soil factors, texture, macro and micro nutrients were estimated by the following methods such as soil pH, EC (9), OC (10), available N, available P (11) and available K and the micro nutrient (Zu, Cu, Fe and Mn) (12). The climate date of the study area was collected from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.

Evaluation of AM infection
The root samples were cleared and stained in tryphan blue with a modified version of the Phillips and Hayman's (8) method, in some cases, the modified method of Merryweather and Fitter (13) and Arias et al. (14). Arbuscular mycorrhizal infection in the roots was assessed following the grid line-intersect and the slide methods of Giovannetti and Mosse (15).

Isolation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Spores from the soil samples
Spores were recovered from the soil samples by the wet sieving and decanting method (16). Identification of AM fungi based upon microscopic characters, the AM fungal spores were identified. For identification and nomenclature, keys of the following manual authors were used: Raman and Mohankumar (17), Schenk and Perez (18), Redecker et al. (19) and Schubler and Walker (20). Classification on based on color, size, shape, surface, structure, general nature of the spore contents and hyphal attachment. Photomicrographs were taken with the help of a Magnus Olympus Microscope.

RESULTS
The study purpose was to isolate the diversity and function of AM Fungi associated with some medicinal plants located in Velliangiri hills. The infection and spread of AM fungal genera as influenced by as climatic and edaphic factors. The results relate to influence of soil properties and climatic variations on the AM fungal associations in medicinal plant. As well as the monthly rain fall, temperature and relative humidity of Velliangiri hills from January, 2013 to December, 2015 were presenting in Table 1. The soils were sandy loam, non-calcareous and black in nature ( Table 2). The soil physical factors such as soil pH, electric conductivity and organic carbon were reported in the Table 2. The soil pH was recorded 7.19 to 7.1 in the all seasons of three years, whereas electric conductivity was recorded in between 0.39 to 0.34 d sm-2. Likely, the organic carbon was noted in between 0.86 to 0.81 % in the vegetation zones in all seasons of tree years. Whereas, the detailed records of the macro and micro nutrients were given in the Table 3.
H-Hyphal, V-Vesicles, A-Arbuscules; W-Winter; S -Summer; R -Rainy  In rainy season, Corchorus trilocularis (243), Crotalaria barbata (294) and Impatiens crenata (362) were found higher spore population, at the same time Begonia malabarica (110), Biophytum polyphyllum (111) and Begonia malabarica, (112) were have minimum population in the study period. The overall aspirations the rainy season were influenced the spore population due to the lagging of rain water. Where, in the winter and summer seasons have more favor for the AM fungal. In Velliangiri hills, highest AM diversity was recorded which may be due to its location, which experiences optimum rainfall and temperature that are conducive for AM population (Table 5-7).

DISCUSSION
The AM fungi are major components of soil biota that can determine the productivity of ecosystems (21). The rhizosphere of the mycorrhizal plant can be referred to as the mycorrhizosphere. Mycorrhizosphere comprises both the root and hyphae influence zones. Hence, the mycorrhizosphere provide a critical link between plants, other microorganisms and the soil (22). The number of mycorrhizal fungal individuals found in a given habitat is likely to depend on a range of factors that includes plant community composition and age, soil chemical, physical and biological properties, and climate, meaning that considerable variability can be expected this requires more effort to quantify intra specific diversity of mycorrhizal fungi (23). The present study contacts an experiment on mycorrhizal fungal community from the Velliangiri hills. In the study site 10 AM fungal genera were identified, among these Glomus has been the most dominant genus in this region, where also the Rhizophagus fasciculatus was the most dominant AM fungal species. Some other finding supported that the relatively higher frequency of Glomus species (24,25). These species have good relation with edaphoclimatic factors of this area.
The present study clearly demonstrated for the first time that plant species from Velliangiri hills are revealed that both AM fungal spore population and percentage of root colonization, which may affected by edaphoclimatic factors such as effect of various climatic, physical and chemical properties of soils. The huge distinction takes place in the spore population within the plant species have in this study, this may be attributed to the variation in edaphic and climatic factors. Numerous biotic and abiotic factors influence into the structure of mycorrhizal fungal communities. . Similarly, Kulkarni (26) also proposed by the influence of edaphic factors and host compatibility, climate and soil microorganisms on mycorrhization. The soil study revealed that AM Fungal communities are influence by habitat and soil type. In addition, the soil properties are related to microbiological activity and triggering the distribution of AM Fungi. These results contribute to a better understanding of the ecological factors that can shape AM fungal communities, an important soil microbial group that affects multiple ecosystem functions. The pH of study area was very fine (7.19 to 7.1) and this got good relationship of AM population of the study area. The other factors like organic carbon, electric conductivity and micro and macro nutrients.
The present study have higher spore population in winter followed by summer, where rainy season got lower spore population, this may be a variation in moisture and temperature. There is an optimum soil and environmental conditions are required for the AM fungi development and infectiveness (27). Here, many species were recorded in lower colonization of the samplings in the test sites. This has been influenced on plant growth and community structure, due to the important relationship between biodiversity and their potential to control on plant diversity and productivity (28). Where also AM fungal colonization increase intra specific plant competition by different magnification among them. There the influence of mycorrhizal community appears to extant level of plant populations and communities. Fungal may profit from additional nutrient and water availability at relatively low energy cost compared to nonmycorrhizal. Mycorrhizal alien plant species may obtain a competitive advantage compared to nonmycorrhizal alien plant species (24).

CONCLUSION
However, despite the importance of AMF to terrestrial ecosystems, little is known about the effects of environmental changes on AMF abundance, activity and the impact of these changes on the ecosystem services. Therefore, it is important to gain a clearer understanding of the effects of environmental changes on the AM fungal species to guide conservation and restoration efforts. The symbiosis has long been a focus for invasion biologists, we do not know of any study combining plant mycorrhizal status with other plant functional traits. Therefore, we encourage the consideration of mycorrhizal status and related mycorrhizal plant traits in future analyses of alien plant invasion success.