Airborne fungi in an Italian rice mill

Studies employing volumetric spore trap (VSP) and gravity settling culture plates (GSC) were conducted in order to analyse the air spora of a rice mill at Pavia, Italy, from October-December 1988. Results revealed a variety of fungal spores belonging to different genera and including recognized rice pathogenic fungi. The most frequent genera by GSC method included Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Helminthosporium, Mucor, Nigrospora, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Trichoderma, Trichothecium, and some unidentified fungi. Environmental assessment of fungal spores by VSP revealed that the most prevalent fungi were:Alternaria, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Helminthosporium, Nigrospora, Pyricularia, Tilletia and hyaline, dark and coloured types of ascospores and basidiospores. Airborne fungal spore concentrations were particularly high (5,000-6,000 spores/m3) in the rooms of the rice mill where the initial stages of rough rice transformation take place, and dropped to 2,500 spores/m3 in the last room, where workers are. During a temporary interruption of the working processes, air spora concentration dropped below 1,000 spores/m3. Cladosporium, Epicoccum and Nigrospora spores were predominant in all subdivisions of the indoor environments of the rice mill.