Foldscopy from a village in Punjab

Jul 26, 2018 • 5:23 AM UTC

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AJAY

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I would like to share reports of foldscopy from my native place Landran in Punjab (India). Learning foldscopy at a workshop held at GGDSD College, I tried to explore flora and fauna of my village.
Landran is a village located in SAS Nagar (Mohali) Tehsil of Mohali district, Punjab. It is about 45 Kms from Chandigarh. Landran village has high literacy rate as compared to other villages in Punjab. So it was not difficult to explain foldscope and its use to farmers.
It has been raining heavily these days and the effect has been seen on vegetation using a foldscope which I would share in the posts that follow.
One such effect is on the egg plant – Brinjal . Farmers in my village grow seasonal vegetables along with routine crops, which they sell in ‘Apni mandis’ (i.e. kisaan Mandis) set up by Government in different sectors of Chandigarh on week days as per the schedule chalked by the Government.
The brinjals have shown poor growth due to excessive rains and started rotting. I spotted one such from my uncle’s field and used a foldscope to study the greyish scum formed on it. It showed the presence of some un-identified octopus-like fungi with spores in the centre and hyphae projecting out.