OPTIMIZING NUTRITIONAL CONDITIONS FOR THE LIQUID CULTURE PRODUCTION OF EFFECTIVE FUNGAL BIOLOGICAL-CONTROL AGENTS

Spores of fungal pathogens of weeds and insects are unique in their ab ility to actively infect and kill their pest host, While these capabil ities are advantageous in terms of their use as a contact biological c ontrol agent, or biopesticide, they also require special consideration during spore production, Directed approaches to medium optimization m ust consider not only spore yield but also spore qualities such as des iccation tolerance, stability as a dry preparation, and biocontrol eff icacy, Nutritional conditions during culture growth and sporulation sh ould direct the accumulation of appropriate endogenous reserves so tha t newly formed spores possess these advantageous qualities, Studies wi th the bioherbicidal fungus Colletotrichum truncatum and with the bioi nsecticidal fungus Paecilomyces fumosoroseus have demonstrated the imp act of nutrition on spore 'fitness' for use as a biological control ag ent, The optimization strategy used in these nutritional studies as we ll as a comparison of the results are presented.