Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 15 (2) 237-241 December 2008
ISSN 1319-562X
The Official Journal of the Saudi Biological Society

 


                        Air-Borne Mycoflora in the Schools Environment in Hofuf, Al Hassa Province    of Saudi Arabia


                                                                                                      Hashem Al-Sheikh

Department of Biology, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa,
Saudi Arabia
E-mail: stophashem@hotmail.com


                                                                                                            Abstract

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This study was conducted to collect the air-borne mycoflora from the environment of Primary and Secondary schools during the period from 1st of April till the end of May 2007. A total number of 13 fungal genera were isolated. Genus Aspergillus was the most predominant and showed the highest number of cfu/m3 of air followed by Penicillium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Rhodotorula, Mucor, Alternaria, Acremonium, Curvularia, Stachybotrys, Rhizopus, Drechslera and Ulocladium in the descending order. Generally, environment of primary schools yielded greater number of fungal cfu compared to secondary schools in all the localities of Hofuf city. This is the first record of airborne fungi from schools environment in Hofuf city, Saudi Arabia.

Key words: Airborne, mycoflora, schools, environment.

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