Water Quality And Cyanobacterial Diversity in Lower Western Himachal Lakes

Present investigation deals with the diversity of cyanobacteria in fresh water lakes and water bodies of Himachal Pradesh. During the study, 10 genera and 18 species belonging to the families Chroococcaceae, Oscillatoriaceae, Nostocaceae and Rivulariaceae have been collected and identified. Among these, 12 species were non- heterocystous and 6 species were heterocystous (N2 fixing) showing morphological diversities from unicellular to multicellular and colonial to filamentous forms. Physico-chemical analysis of water for temperature, pH, alkalinity, free CO2, total hardness, chlorides etc. was done. The most abundant distributed cyanobacteria were Oscillatoria sancta, Lyngbya major among nonheterocystous forms followed by Chroococcus minutus, Aphanothece castagnei, Microcystis aeruginosa whereas Nostoc punctiforme, Calothrix braunii and Anabaena iyengarii were among the heterocystous forms. These species were found during August to October. Calothrix braunii, Nostoc punctiforme, Cylinderospermum stagnale and Calothrix brevissima have been recorded for the first time. Present study of Cyanobacterial diversity and their distributional pattern has significance for agriculture as renewable biofertilizers and for their potential as repository of bioactive compounds.