| Abstract: | A total of 4,009 endophytic fungal isolates were recovered from healthy leaves, bark and xylem of Citrus sinensis in different seasons and age‐classes. Corresponding to those factors, the majorities of fungal isolates were recovered from leaves, 2‐yr‐old trees and winter, respectively. Fungal isolates were initially categorized based on cultural and morphological characters, and representatives of each morphotype were subjected to molecular identifications based on ITS‐rDNA and β‐tubulin sequences. All isolates obtained in this study belonged to the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota assigned to 30 fungal taxa. The most abundant fungal species were Alternaria spp. Species diversity indices of Margalef richness and Shannon–Wiener revealed a high diversity of fungal taxa recovered from leaf and during winter. Frequency (%) of fungal endophytes was highest in winter followed by summer, autumn, and spring significantly, whereas the corresponding sequence was winter, autumn, summer and spring for the diversity of endophytic fungi. Overall, the results of this study based on the community and diversity of endophytic fungal species in C. sinensis showed that the type of plant tissue, season of sampling and age of tree play a driving role on their abundance while their diversity was mainly dependent on the type of plant tissue, season of sampling than on the age of tree. |
