The objective of this work was to determine the best growth and sporulation conditions of two Verticillium lecanii (Zimm.) Viégas, isolates cultivated in different culture medium, C sources, organic and inorganic N sources and C:N ratio. Twenty days after inoculation, PDA and Complete Medium provided the best development, and lactose and starch were the best C sources to promote the growth of JAB 02 and JAB 45 isolates, respectively; JAB 02 showed low sporulation while JAB 45 sporulated well on glucose and maltose. JAB 02 isolate developed well when the organic N source was casitone; JAB 45 obtained good development when the tested sources were casitone and peptone, although a low sporulation occurred in presence of tryptone and hydrolysed casein. The inorganic N sources that favoured the best development of isolates were (NH4)2HPO4 and NaNO3, although JAB 02 isolate showed low sporulation. In the C:N ratio analysed, JAB 02 isolate developed better on the 60:1 ratio, and the JAB 45 isolate on the 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 ratio. The sporulation of JAB 02 isolate was low on all the ratios tested, but there was no effect of the C:N ratio on the sporulation of both isolates.
fungi; culture medium; nutritional requirements; pest control
