Abstract

Okunowo Wahab Oluwanisola * and Ogunkanmi Liasu Adebayo

An investigation was conducted on the pH, nutritional and cost benefit of the use of different substrates for the production of Curvularia pallescens Boedijn. The growth of the organism was examined at pH range between 5.5 and 8.6 and on different growth media, potato carrot agar (PCA), potato dextrose agar (PDA), sabouraud agar (SA), tap water agar (TWA), water hyacinth agar (WHA) and Czapek-Dox agar (ZA). Also, the growth of the organism was examined on different enrichment media “Czapek-Dox” with its sodium nitrate substituted with equal amount of different nitrogen sources (ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, glutamine and sodium glutamate). WHA produced significantly (P < 0.001) highest amount of mycelial growth (84.95 �?� 0.05 mm) on day 6 than other media types. The spore concentration was highest, 6.6 E06 �?� 3.33 E05 spores/ml with TWA. The colony size was significantly (P < 0.001) highest, 84.9 �?� 0.1 mm on day 10 with sodium glutamate compared with other nitrogen sources. Spore count was only observed on ammonium chloride (1.67E06 �?� 3.33E05 spores/ml), the optimal growth pH was 5.5. The cost of production of the organism per culture plate on WHA was 61.3 and 82% lesser than on PDA and SA respectively. The formulated water hyacinth agar medium appeared most economically feasible for the mycelial production of C. pallescens Boedijn.