Mass scale cultivation of entomopathogenic fungus Nomuraea rileyi using agricultural products and agro wastes

Abstract

Various agricultural products like rice, sorghum and wheat and agrowastes namely refuse raw potatoes and refuse raw bananas were evaluated for mass scale cultivation of entomopathogenic fungus Nomuraea rileyi. Among the grains, rice (5.53 × 107spore/g) supported the maximum spore production of fungus followed by refuse raw bananas (4.2 × 107spores/g) and sorghum (4.01 × 107spores/g) on the 11th day after inoculation of spore suspension. whereas, wheat (3.55 x 107spores/g) and refuse potato chips (3.1 × 107spores/g) supported less spore load than other substrates on the 11th day and on the 15th day after inoculation of spore suspension respectively. According to the references based on N. rileyi, use of raw banana as dry chips form for cultivation of fungus was carried out for the first time in this study. This study suggests alternative nutrient sources for mass scale cultivation of fungus and that the biotechnological potential of agro refuses could be employed in biopesticide development. © JBiopest. 259.