Preservation of fusarium species under mineral oil

Abstract

The viability and taxonomical characteristics of 82 cultures belonging to 15 species of Fusarium, preserved in mineral oil for 4-35 years, were examined. The species tested were: F. avenaceum, F. decemcellulare, F. dimerum, F. equiseti, F. fusarioides, F. graminearum, F. lateritium, F. moniliforme, F. moniliforme var. subglutinans, F. nivale, F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. sporotrichioides, F. trichothecioides, F. tricinctum. In the culture recover, 81 (98.7%) were viable, among which, 78 (96.3%) kept their original morphological characteristics, while three (3.7%), including two cultures of F. lateritium and only one of F. avenaceum, lost the sporulation ability. F. trichothecioides with twenty seven years of preservation was the only culture that did not show viability.