Potential of cavendish banana peels as a fungal growth media

Abstract

Introduction: Banana peels are often discarded without further use. Whereas each banana peel contains nutrients that are quite high depending on the ripeness of the banana fruit. This has the potential to use banana peels as a medium for fungal growth. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential of banana peel as a growth medium for the test fungi, namely Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, and Candida albicans. Method: The type of research is experimental with variations in the mass of banana peels. The potency of banana peel media was evaluated by the growth of the test fungus which was expressed quantitatively by growth diameter and number of colonies. While the qualitative evaluation was carried out by observing the morphology of the test fungus colonies on banana peel media. The gold standard media used in this study were Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) for Aspergillus, and Potato dextrose agar (PDA) for Candida. Incubation for Candida albicans growth was carried out at 48 hours, while Aspergillus growth was incubated for up to 10 days. The data obtained were analyzed using Mann-Whitney. Result: The results showed that the banana peel media could be overgrown with the test fungus. Candida albicans showed the best results in the 3% (w/v) variant, while Aspergillus fumigatus grew optimally at the 2% (w/v) variant. Aspergillus flavus was best at the 1% (w/v) variant. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, banana peels media can be used for the growth media of the tested fungi, and it is recommended to use the 2% (w/v) variant so that it can be used to grow all the tested fungi in this research.