Growth and sporulation of Verticillium lecanii isolates under different nutritional conditions

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the best growth and sporulation conditions of two Verticillium lecanii (Zimm.) Viégas, isolates cultivated in different culture medium, C sources, organic and inorganic N sources and C:N ratio. Twenty days after inoculation, PDA and Complete Medium provided the best development, and lactose and starch were the best C sources to promote the growth of JAB 02 and JAB 45 isolates, respectively; JAB 02 showed low sporulation while JAB 45 sporulated well on glucose and maltose. JAB 02 isolate developed well when the organic N source was casitone; JAB 45 obtained good development when the tested sources were casitone and peptone, although a low sporulation occurred in presence of tryptone and hydrolysed casein. The inorganic N sources that favoured the best development of isolates were (NH₄)₂HPO₄ and NaNO₃, although JAB 02 isolate showed low sporulation. In the C:N ratio analysed, JAB 02 isolate developed better on the 60:1 ratio, and the JAB 45 isolate on the 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 ratio. The sporulation of JAB 02 isolate was low on all the ratios tested, but there was no effect of the C:N ratio on the sporulation of both isolates.