Composition of Agar Media for Fungi in the Laboratory Using Leaf Decoctions of Cassava, Cowpea, Sweet Corn and Banana

Abstract

Imported culture media for culturing fungi are too expensive. It has therefore become highly necessary to compose standard fungal media from cheap locally available materials. This study was conducted to investigate the growth of three fungal pathogens (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, and Curvularia lunata) on various concentrations of maize (Zea mays), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), cassava (Manihot esculenta) and wild banana (Musa sapientum) leaf decoctions. To the decoctions was added 15g of agar to solidify the medium. The ability of the decoctions to support radial growth and sporulation of the fungi with or without dextrose was observed. The consistency, smoothness and fluffiness of fungal cultures in comparison with their growth characteristics on a standard laboratory fungal culture medium on Potato dextrose Agar (PDA) were observed. Some of the various concentrations of the leaf decoctions tested promoted better radial growth of the fungi than PDA. Maize leaf decoction at 0.2kg, 0.50kg/L and 1kg/L and maize leaf decoction without dextrose supported the growth of Fusarium ozysporum more than PDA whereas banana leaf decoction at 0.25kg/L and 1kg/L without dextrose, 1kg/L with dextrose and cassava leaf decoction at 1kg/L with dextrose supported the growth of Curvulania lunata better than PDA. These are recommended for culturing the three fungal pathogens.