Kuang-Ren Chung
University of Florida, Citrus Research and Education Center, 700 Experiment Station Road,
Lake Alfred, FL 33850-2299, USA
Dean D. Tzeng
Department of Plant Pathology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan, Republic of China
ABSTRACT
The parasitism of Ustilago esculenta P. Henn. in the perennial aquatic grass, Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Turcz. results in the development of edible smut gall, “ Kah-Peh-Sung” which has long been extensively cultivated as a vegetable in Taiwan and southern China. The nutritional requirements of U. esculenta were investigated in a semi-defined liquid medium to explore further studies of the causative fungus and its interaction with host plant. The fungus grew as yeast-like sporidia in vitro and grew very poorly in the Czapek`s medium. Of the 13 vitamins and growth factors tested for growth stimulation, thiamine was found to contribute the most for fungal growth in culture. Among 14 carbohydrates tested in the presence of thiamine, the most favorable in order of effectiveness were sucrose, raffinose, fructose, glucose, maltose and galactose. The fungus utilized most of the amino acids tested. The most suitable inorganic nitrogen sources in order were potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate and ammonium phosphate. Organic amino nitrogen sources were preferred to inorganic ones. Fungal growth was correlated with the increase of C/N ratio. The optimum temperature for fungal growth ranged from 20 to 28 ° C and the optimum pH ranged from 4 to 7. The maximum growth was reached in 7 d under the optimum conditions.
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How to cite this article
Kuang-Ren Chung and Dean D. Tzeng, 2004. Nutritional Requirements of the Edible Gall-producing Fungus Ustilago esculenta. Journal of Biological Sciences, 4: 246-252.
DOI: 10.3923/jbs.2004.246.252
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=jbs.2004.246.252
DOI: 10.3923/jbs.2004.246.252
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=jbs.2004.246.252
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