Algal Diversity in Paddy Fields of Bhor and Velhe Talukas of Pune District Maharashtra State, India

A variety of Algae occurs in the water and soil of rice field ecosystems. These algae include green algae, desmids, diatoms and blue green algae with respect to their requirements like light, water, high temperature and nutrient availability. Paddy field ecosystem provides an environment favorable for the growth of BGA (Blue Green Algae). Algal flora is an idea of utilizing it as biofertilizer as an alternative or supplementary source of nitrogen, for rice is a potential biological system under low-cost rice production technology. The resulting nitrogen fertility by algal application has permitted moderate but constant productivity in fields having no application of Nitrogen fertilizer (Kannaiyan, 1993). In this respect, algal flora from rice fields from Bhor and Velhe has been documented with proper identification. During the survey, more than 20 algae were found.


Introduction
Blue green algae are found in all types water bodies.But paddy fields are one of the common habitats of BGA.The occurrence of blue green algae in cultivated paddy fields in India was first reported in 1939.The study of this group of organisms in last 3-4 decades have not only focused on their role in the conservation of nitrogen but also in the understanding of the problem of nitrogen metabolism.The process of nitrogen fixation by blue green algae is a highly oxygen sensitive reaction and it can take place in the same cells that release oxygen during photosynthesis.As reported under widely different climatic conditions of India (Mitra, 1951), Japan (Okuda and Yamaguchi, 1956) and Ukraine (Prikhod'kova, 1968) in the paddy fields, the relative occurrence of BGA varies within large limits.In India these comprised more than half the total number of blue green algal species recorded.In acidic soils of Kerala state (India), their abundance varied between 0-76% of the total algae (Aiyer, 1965).In countries where high levels of nitrogenous fertilizers are commonly used, BGA have also been isolated from such soils (Bunt, 1961).
In India out of total 157 million hectares of cultivable area 49 million hectors of land are acidic in nature (Dass, 1996).Moore (1963) reported occurrence of many BGA in acidic soils.Many BGA cultures were isolated from acidic soils of Kerala having a pH 3.8 (Madhusudhanan and Dominic, 1995).The survival of Cyanobacteria under acid soil rice field conditions was studied (Jorgensen and Davy, 1968).Latter (Sardeshpande and Goyal, 1981) observed that the native isolates survey viewed better under acid soils than the introduced culture.Isolated many acid tolerant strains of Cyanobacteria from acidic soils of Nagaland (Singh et al., 1997).The acid tolerance strain of Cyanobacteria namely Westiellowpsis performed better both under normal and acidic pH levels like 4, 5 and 6 (Selvem, 1998).Kolte & Goyal (1985) studied distributional pattern of blue green algae of rice field soils of Vidharbha region.They found rich blue green algal flora even in soils with pH less than 6.0.Rice field soils of Western Maharashtra studied and isolated 11 and 14 species of blue green algae (Patil and Satav, 1980).Patil (2000) studied blue green algae of paddy fields of Kolhapur, Pune, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg and Thane districts of the western Maharashtra.

Material and Methods
The field survey of rice fields from Bhor and Velhe Talukas was undertaken during the monsoon season in the year 2018 and 2019.Naturally occurring algal samples were collected from surface layers of soils from different paddy fields of the localities selected for the study.Collected algal forms were preserved in 4% formalin for further taxonomical study.Algal forms were observed, line drawing was made with camera lucida and identified by relevant monographs (Desikachary, 1959; N Anand, 1989;Mahajan, 1983).

Result and Discussion
The following algae were found during the survey.In results, the localities as well as the features of the algae are mentioned.

Conclusion
During the survey, more than 20 Algae were found in rice fields of Bhor and Velhe Talukas.It is clearly seen that Blue-green Algae play the major role in nitrogen fixation so they can be the best biofertilizer for paddy fields.The people from these areas do not know importance of algae and unknowingly they remove it from paddy fields.Therefore, there is need to create awareness among them.