Evaluating the Stability of Post Mushroom Substrate (PMS) and Other Agro-wastes for Mass Production of Entomopathogenic Fungi

Aim: The study was undertaken to evaluate agro-wastes (Post mushroom substrate, Sugarcane bagasse, rice husk and sorghum grains) for mass production of entomopathogenic fungi like, I. fumosoroseus:MT997932, B. bassiana: MT997933, L. lecanii: MT997935 and H. thompsonii: MT997936 by solid stat fermentation.

Place and Duration of Work: The study was carried out in the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, GKVK, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore during 2019-20.

Methodology: The substrates were dried, chopped and sieved through 2mm sieve. 100g of all substrates were sterilized and moistened to 60% by adding sterile distilled water fallowed by addition of 5ml of spore suspension of fungal isolates. Treatments T5. T6, T7, T8 and T10 were fortified with adding 10ml of molasses. Observation like, growth and spore production were taken at 7, 14 and 21 days after inoculation.

Results: The growth and spore production of entomopathogenic fungal isolates were observed to be increased accordance with the incubation period. Among four substrates maximum mycelial growth and spore production of all the isolates (×109 spores g-1) was observed in sorghum grains (T4:T8) fallowed by treatment T7 (SMS+10% molasses) on 21 DAI. Whereas, sugarcane bagasse and paddy husk substrates were not supported the satisfactory growth and spore production besides the addition of molasses (×107 spores g-1). The addition of molasses has positively influenced the growth and spore production of entomogenus isolates in all treatments.

Conclusion: Based on results, it is evidenced that even though cereal grains are best option for mass production, PMS fortified with molasses will become a better substrate for mass production and reduce the load of using food grains as substrate.