Solid substrate cultivation of Gibberella fujikuroi on an inert support

Growth of Gibberella fujikuroi on Amberlite, an inert support, and gibberel lic acid (GA,) production was studied in glass columns under different cond itions of temperature and water activity (a(w)). Maximum biomass concentrat ion and GA(3) production were respectively 40 (mg/g inert support) and 0.73 (mg/g inert support). While high specific growth rates were obtained, low initial nitrogen resulted in low biomass concentrations. Maximum GA(3) (31 degrees C, a(w)=0.985) was not produced by the maximum concentration of bio mass (25 degrees C, a(w)=0.992). Peaks in the rate curves of either outlet gas, CO2 or O-2 occurred on exhaustion of urea indicating, for future works , just when to feed the culture additional nitrogen. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.