Each segment was teased apart in a sterile petri dish containing 10 ml of sterile water to obtain a suspension of cortical cells.A 50 µl aliquot of cortical cell suspension was dropped onto l 〖cm〗^3 block of 1/4 PDA containing 100 µg/ml of streptomycin and 50 µg/ml of chloramphen-icol in a sterile Petri dish and incubated in the dark at 25% ℃ for 30 days. The incubated plates were observed under a stereomicroscope every 2 days during the incubation period. Fungal colonies emerging from root tissues and cortical Fungal colonies emerging from root tissues and cortical cells were transferred to a new PDA plate and assigned a CMU number. The pure cultures were kept on PDA slants at 4C and 20% glycerrol at-20%C for long-term preservation.