فلور قارچي پوشش خارجي گاوان و گوسفندان بظاهر سالم شهرستان هاي گرمسار و آمل

Haircoat fungal flora of normal cattle and sheep from Garmsar and Amol

The present work was performed with the aim of determination of fungal flora of hair coat in cattle and sheep from Garmsar and Amol regions with special reference to dermatophytes. Clinical samples were randomly obtained from flank region of 200 cases of cattle and also 200 cases of sheep using direct plating method. Fungal materials were isolated on two culture media as sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) and SDA supplemented with chloramphenicol and cycloheximide (SCC).The isolates were purified using subculturing on SDA and SCC slants. Identification of the fungal isolates was based on the combination of macroscopic (colony colour, reverse eolour, texture, pigmentation etc.) and microscopic (reproductive structures) morphological criteria at genus or species level. On the basis of obtained results, a number of eleven mycelial fungal genera including Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Cladosporium, Pseudalleschertu, Acremonlum, Rhizopus, Absidia, Alternaria, Stachybotrys and Scopulariopsis and also some yeasts and sterile mycelia were determined as normal fungal flora of hair coats of both cattle and sheep in Garrnsar and Amol regions. Among these, the genus Aspergillus with 4 identified species including A. ftavus, A. niger, A. ochraceus and A. tammarii had the highest frequency in both. Cattle and sheep from two mentioned regions (p(O.05). In spite of the similarity exist between fungal genera from both cattle and sheep, their frequency was found to be variable accordingly. The presence of these fungal genera have special importance regarding their toxigenicity (Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Alternaria and Stachybotrys) ,pathogenicity (nearly all of them specially Pseudollescheria boydii ), allergenicity (nearly all of them especially Aspergillus, Alternaria and Cladosporium ) and involvement in the etiology of animal abortions (specially Rhizopus, Absidia and Aspergillus ). In conclusion, our data revealed that special considerations shoud be performed in times of contact with cattle and sheep and probably other large animals. To our knowledge, this is tbe first document report upon the determination of fungal flora of hair coat of cattle and sheep in Iran.