Evaluation of some agro-industrial wastes for mass propagation of the nematode parasitic fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus

Abstract

The discovery of the fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom.) Samson as a promising biocontrol agent of phytonematodes (J atala et aI., 1979) has renewed interest in biological control of nematodes. There is now considerable experimental evidence that confirms that P. lilacinus effectively controls root-knot and cyst nematodes (J a tala e tal., 1979; Strattner, 1979; Davide and Zorilla, 1983; Morgan-Jones and Rodriguez-Kabana, 1984; Villanueva and Davide, 1984). For experimental field applications, J atala (1983) has suggested that the fungus should be cultured on cereal grains. However, this may not be economically viable for mass production of fungus inoculum aimed at general field application and hence certain low cost and abundantly available agricultural and industrial wastes were tested for their suitability as growth media for mass production.