Efficient production of fungal spores by the combination of reduction of nitrogen source content and embedding of hydrophobic polymer in an agar plate

Fungal sporulation is affected by many environmental factors, for example, we previously observed that embedding of a hydrophobic polymer net in an agar plate medium significantly accelerates spore formation of some fungi. Here, it was found that the fungal spore formation depended on the surface hydrophobicity of cultivation vessels used for the plate cultivation. In a polypropylene (PP) vessel, six fungal strains produced spores of 1.5 to 514.8 times of those growing in a glass vessel. The contact of vegetative hyphae on the surface of the vessels might trigger the fungal spore formation. Moreover, the spore formation was synergistically accelerated by the reduction of nitrogen source content in an agar plate medium and by the contact to hydrophobic polymers. The synergistic effect depended on the surface area of the hydrophobic polymer. Thus, the combination of the reduction of nitrogen source and the embedding of hydrophobic polymer is expected as a novel and effective procedure for production of fungal spores which are useful for the inoculum in fermentation industry and biocontrol agent in agriculture. [Display omitted] •The higher the hydrophobicity of culture vessel, the more the spore formation.•Spore production in polypropylene vessel reached 1.5 to 514.8 times of glass one.•N-source reduction and hydrophobicity synergistically accelerated spore formation.•The synergistic effect depended on the surface area of hydrophobic polymer.