Screening of Cultivable Indigenous Fungi Which Responsible for Decomposing of Rice Straw

The experiment was conducted to screen potentials indigenous fungi for rapid decomposing of rice straw.  Seven isolates of dominant fungi were isolated from the burying rice straw on the 2.5 cm soil depth after 30 days incubation on the paddy fields. Five dominant isolates were tested for their potential to decompose rice straw by assessing their value of decreasing C/N ratio and dry weight of rice straw.  Fungal inoculums treatments were arranged in a Completely Randomized Design with four replications.  The results showed that the dominant cultivable fungi that isolated from decomposed rice straw were Trichoderma sp., Fusarium sp., Mucor sp., Aspergillus sp., and Penicillium sp.  Among the tested fungi, Trichoderma sp. had the biggest ability to decompose rice straw compared to others indigenous fungi. The C/N ratio was reduced to 39.47 from an initial value of 73.33 of control treatment in 10 days of biodegradation process in laboratory scale, thus showing the potential of indigenous Trichoderma sp. for use in large-scale composting of rice straw.Keywords: Cultivable, decomposer, indigenous fungi, rice straw[How to Cite: Isnaini S, A Niswati and Maryati. 2012. Screening of Cultivatable Indigenous Fungi which Responsible for Decomposing of Rice Straw. J Trop Soils 17 (1): 61-66. doi: 10.5400/jts.2012.17.1.61] [Permalink/DOI: www.dx.doi.org/10.5400/jts.2012.17.1.61