A comparison of techniques for isolating soil fungi

Abstract

Parallel studies were made with different techniques for isolating fungi from soil. Isolations by screened immersion plates showed close agreement with those by more direct methods (immersion tubes and direct inoculation) and differed from those by dilution plates and soil plates. The latter methods favour sporu-lating species and results may be further biased by using differentially selective media. Isolations by screened plates exhibited a wider range and variety of species than those obtained by any other method, particularly for species of Mortierella and dematiaceous fungi, and also provided a quantitative measure of the relative distribution of species. A modification of the Rossi-Cholodny slide technique made possible the isolation of fungus mycelium from the slides.