Use of Mung Bean Sprout (Tauge) as Alternative Fungal Growth Medium

Abstract

Abstract Growth media are essential in mycological studies. Currently, laboratories are using ready-to-use media which are commercially available. However, the prices of such media are high and are a burden on low-funded laboratories. Mung bean sprout (tauge) has been used as a cheap alternative growth medium since 1974, but study comparing performance of the medium with its commercial counterparts has not been reported. This study was done to compare the performances of tauge extract with commercial Potato Extract and Yeast Extract for growing yeast and filamentous fungi. We also endeavoured to optimise the composition of the alternative media by statistical analysis. The results show that the tauge extract medium gave a significantly higher growth rate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a significantly lower growth rate of Kluyveromyces marxianus compared to the commercial media. On the other hand, the growth rates of Aspergillus oryzae and Trichoderma viride on all media are not significantly different. The optimum composition of tauge extract media for S. cerevisiae are 9.6 and 6.8 % (w/v) of tauge and sugar, respectively. For A. oryzae, maximum growth is predicted when the medium contains 11.2 and 7.4 % (w/v) of tauge and sugar, respectively.