Spore production of Beauveria bassiana from agro-industrial residues

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to produce Beauveria bassiana by Solid-State Fermentation using agro-industrial residues and optimizing the cultivation conditions. Refused potatoes, coffee husks and sugar-cane bagasse were tested. The blend of refused potatoes and sugar-cane bagasse (60-40%) with particle size in the range of 0.8-2 mm was used in the fermentation experiments. In Erlenmeyer flasks the best spore production was achieved with the following conditions: incubation temperature 26°C; initial pH 6.0; inoculum concentration 107 spores.g-1.dw and initial moisture 75%. In the column type reactor using forced aeration under the optimized conditions, the maximum production (1.07×1010 spores.g-1.dw) was obtained at the 10th day of fermentation. The respirometric analyses of the fermentation showed a strong correlation between fungal growth and spore production.