Use of locally available jaggery for development of a cost effective media for mass cultivation of piriformospora indica- A step forward towards commercialization

Piriformospora indica is an axenically cultivable fungus that colonizes with the roots of mono and dicotyledonous plants. Colonized plants in response show enhancement in growth, yield and value addition. The fungus is normally grown on large variety of complex and synthetic media. As the readily available synthetic media are expensive, there is a need to find an alternative medium for mass production of P. indica. The need arises as a cheaper and cost effective medium will bring down the production cost and make it commercially competitive. In the present study, we examined the impact of cheaply available local material “Jaggery” on the growth of fungus and also checked its viability towards economically important plants. The data presented here suggests that maximum fungal biomass, radial growth and spore yield were recorded on Jaggery medium as compared with commonly used Hill-Kaefer medium that was used as control. Plants inoculated with biomass of fungus grown on Jaggery medium showed increase in shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight, photosynthetic pigments and phosphorus content. Our findings thus suggest that cheap locally available Jaggery can be used as an alternative media in place of Hill-Kaefer for the commercial production of P. indica.