ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI:

1. SOIL FERTILITY

Together with bacteria, they are the important organisms which bring about the decay of organic matter and the formation of humus.

2.MEDICINE

a number of fungi are used for producing antibiotics which are antimicrobial. Antibiotics usually act by killing germs or preventing their reproduction.

3.FOOD

some fungi e.g, truffles , puff balls and certain mushrooms are edible and confidered as delicacies. It is used in the making of bread. Yeast is used in breweries for making alcohol drinks by fermentation.

HARMFUL FUNGI

1. PLANT DISEASE

A large number of plants disease are caused by fungi e.g, potato , blight , wilt , rots , smuts mildew , leaf spot , rust , scab.

2. SPOILAGE

Fungi destroy wooden building ( Dry rot ), Stored cereals , fruits , and vegetables , leather goods , cotton e.t.c

3.HUMAN DISEASE

fungi cause a number of superficial skin disease in man , e.g, athlete’s foot and some allergies.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF YEASTS

Yeasts are unicellular fungi. Mostly they reproduce asexually by budding. The fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeasts under anaerobes conditions is the process that is used is breweries. The most important yeast in the process is saccharomyces cerevisiae.

      In the making of bread , yeast causes the production of CO2 by the fermentation of sugar. This result in the raising of the dough and is responsible for the porous nature of bread.

      Some fungi e.g. truffles , puff balls, and certain mushrooms are edible, and considered as delicacies. Yeast also has a high content of vitamin V.

      Other yeast are important pathogens and cause disease such as thrush and Cryptococcus , one of them candida , cause a common vaginal infection.

      Yeast has also become very important in genetic research over the past few decades.

BENEFICIAL AND HARMFUL BACTERIA

BENEFICIAL BACTERIA:

1. DECOMPOSERS

They bring about the decomposition of dead or decaying plant or animal material or humur with the help of enzymes and are thus called decomposers. They not only solve the problem of eliminating.

2. ALIMENTARY CANAL BACTERIA

In herbivores, they help digest cellulose with the help of enzyme cellulose present in colon or appendix. In man, these bacterial produce vitamin b group , plus vitamin H and vitamin K .

3. INDUSTRIAL BACTERIA

Industrial processes like tobacco curing vinegar , butter , cheese , alcohol manufacture , linen and leather making involve bacterial which help in controlling other bacteria.

4. GENETICALLY ENGINEERED BACTERIA

E.coli has been programmed to make up for growth deficiencies and insulin for the diabetics.

5. MEDICAL BACTERIA

Many antibiotics have been obtained from bacteria which help in controlling other bacteria

HARMFULL BACTERIA

1. PATHOGENIC BACTERIA

They cause different disease of man and animal and plants. Man’s disease including: typhoid , tetanus, tuberculosis , diphtheria e.t.c

2. FOOD SPOILING BACTERIA

They are responsible for spoilage of food by fermentation putrefaction and decomposition.

Events in Spontaneous Generation

Year	Event
1668	Francisco Redi attacks spontaneous generation and disproves it.
1745	John Needham adds chick broth to a flask and boils it, lets it example of spontaneous generation
1768	Lazzaro Spallanzani repeats Needham’s experiment, but removes all the air from the flask.no growth occurs.
1859	Louis Pasteur’s swan-neck flasks show that spontaneous generation does not occur.
1870	Thomas H. Huxley gives his “biogenesis and abiogensis” lecture. The speech offered powerful support for pasteur’s claim to have experimentally disproved spontaneous generation.
1877	John Tyndall publishes his method for fractional sterilization, showing the existence of heat-resistant bacterial spores.