Influence of the Culture Media and the Organic Matter in the Growth of Paxillus ammoniavirescens (Contu & Dessi)

The genus Paxillus is characterized by the difficulty of species identification, which results in reproducibility problems, as well as the need for large quantities of fungal inoculum. In particular, studies of Paxillus ammoniavirescens have reported divergent results in the in vitro growth while little is known of its capacity to degrade organic matter. For all the above, and assuming that this variability could be due to an inappropriate culture media, the aim of this study was to analyse growth in different culture media (MMN, MS, and 1/2 MS) and in the case of MMN in presence/absence of two types of organic matter (fresh litter and senescence litter) to probe the saprophytic ability of P. ammoniavirescens . We also evaluated the effects of pH changes in the culture media. Growth kinetics was assessed by weekly quantification of the area of growth in solid culture media over 5 wk, calculating the growth curves and inflection points of each culture media. In addition, final biomass after 5 wk in the different culture media was calculated. Results showed that best culture media are MS and 1/2 MS. Moreover, an improvement in growth in culture media containing decomposing fall litter was observed, leading to confirm differences in the culture media of this species with others of the same genus. Further, we established that all growth media suffered a significant acidification after fungal growth.