1. Bread mould is a fungus and one of the most common species is the common bread mould (Rhizopus stolonifer).
2. Rhizopus is a genus of fungi and is commonly called bread mould.
3. They are fast-growing fungi and have a cottony appearance and the body of rhizopus consists of branched mycelium.
4. The mycelium is coenocytic and composed of three types of hyphae; stolon, rhizoids and sporangiophore.
Stolon is the internodal region, it is aerial, forms an arch and touches the substratum forming the nodal region.
Rhizoids are formed where the stolon touches the substratum at nodes. They are branched, anchor the mycelium to the substratum and absorb food.
Sporangiophores are the aerial and reproductive mycelia. They are branched and consist of sporangiospores terminally
5. The cell wall is made up of chitin and the cytoplasm is multinucleated and consists of other cell organelles such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi bodies, vacuoles and oil droplets. 6. They reproduce by vegetative, asexual and sexual methods.
