Insect Larva: The Culture Medium for Fungi Storage

The culture medium of Oryctes monoceros larva has nutrient composition and significant quantities of mineral elements required for fungi growth. The presence of these major mineral elements such as Na, Ca, K, Mg, Mn, Fe and Cu in the larva served as growth factor. The present study was carried out to examine the effect of culture media of O. monoceros larva and potato dextrose agar (PDA) in supporting growth and sporulation of fungi. The O. monoceros larva medium best supported growth and sporulation of Ceratocystis paradoxa (3.52), Glomerella cingulata (3.15), Trichoderma harzianum (4.80), Fusarium oxysporium (4.52) and Byssochlamys nivea (3.32) while potato dextrose agar was less suitable for growth and sporulation of C. paradoxa (2.30), G. cingulata (1.83), T. harzianum (3.41), F. oxysporium (2.72) and B. nivea (2.36) in spores/ml two weeks after incubation. However, six months after incubation PDA medium best supported growth and sporulation when compared with less suitable O. monoceros depleted medium. The ability of these fungi to break down the oil content in the larva for utilization means it could probably form a base for new culture medium for fungi storage. The cost of O. monoceros is cheaper compared with PDA. In the absence of PDA, O. monoceros would be the alternative medium for fungi storage