Evaluation of a culture medium based on the fruit of Prosopis juliflora

Abstract

A culture medium for fungi elaborated from the fruit of Prosopis juliflora tree as nutritional source were evaluated, three fungi were cultivated (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Trichoderma harzianum) in the liquid medium to 30, 40 and 45 g/l of reducing sugars concentrations, using Saboraud 40 as control, A. niger was also cultivated in the solid media using 1% of agar and 40 g/L of sugars and agar Saboraud as control. Considering kinetics of biomass and the substrate, the evaluated fungi had a good adaptation to the liquid media and a greater growth as it increased the concentration of reducing sugars. In the case of the A. niger the substrate was totally consumed, unlike A. flavus and T. harzianum that although their consumption was good it was not totally used, leaving nonmetabolizables reducing sugars. In the solid media culture, the A. niger showed good growth in the complex media, being greater than the observed in the control. In all cases, sporulation was high and much faster than the one of the control, for all the evaluated concentrations. As a conclusion the fruit of P. juliflora has a high potential as nutritional source for fungi culture, both submerged and in solid.