Plant and Soil Core Mycobiomes in a Two-Year Sorghum-Legume Intercropping System of Underutilized Crops in South Africa.

Fungal communities form close beneficial (mutualists) or detrimental (pathogens) associations with their plant hosts. Their diversity and abundance can be affected by agricultural practices which include cropping systems such as rotations and intercropping. Despite the importance of cropping systems in increasing productivity, knowledge of the fungal mycobiome and the core inhabitants for under-utilised cereal and legume crops, particularly over a period, is still limited.

Baseline Data of the Fungal Phytobiome of Three Sorghum () Cultivars in South Africa using Targeted Environmental Sequencing.

Plant-associated fungi, or the mycobiome, inhabit plant surfaces above ground, reside in plant tissues as endophytes, or are rhizosphere in the narrow zone of soil surrounding plant roots. Studies have characterized mycobiomes of various plant species, but little is known about the sorghum mycobiome, especially in Africa, despite sorghum being one of the most important indigenous and commercial cereals in Africa. In this study, the mycobiome associated with above- and below-ground tissues of three commercial sorghum cultivars, as well as from rhizosphere and surrounding bulk soil samples, were sequenced using targeted sequencing with the Illumina MiSeq platform.

A first checklist of macrofungi for South Africa.

Macrofungi are considered as organisms that form large fruiting bodies above or below the ground that are visible without the aid of a microscope. These fungi include most basidiomycetes and a small number of ascomycetes. Macrofungi have different ecological roles and uses, where some are edible, medicinal, poisonous, decomposers, saprotrophs, predators and pathogens, and they are often used for innovative biotechnological, medicinal and ecological applications.

Diversity of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms Used in the Noun Division of the West Region of Cameroon.

This article presents discussions of mushrooms as a source of food, income, as well as medicine among the Bamoun people of the highlands of West Cameroon, where the vegetation is mainly savannah mixed with forest galleries. Like most tribes in tropical Africa, the Bamoun people use a wide range of natural products as mushrooms. This study attempts to identify the various mushrooms exploited by the Bamoun.

Ethnomycological studies of edible and medicinal mushrooms in the Mount Cameroon region (Cameroon, Africa).

Inhabitants of the Mount Cameroon region depend on the forest resources of the region for their livelihood, including the diverse use of macrofungi. With the increasing loss of forest due to exploitation and urbanization, they are liable to rapidly lose their indigenous knowledge of the forest resources, especially of mushrooms. An ethnomycological survey was conducted with the aim of documenting the indigenous knowledge of mushrooms as a prelude to conservation efforts.