The Potential for the Formation of Sclerotia in Submerged Mycelium of Sclerotium rolfsii

Abstract

SUMMARY: Synchronous formation of sclerotia in Sclerotium rolfsii was induced in both solid and liquid synthetic media. Sclerotial initials were formed when mycelium was forced to pass from the submerged to the aerial growth phase in one of the following ways: (i) by removal of aerial mycelium with a scalpel; (ii) by growing the mycelium under a cover glass which was later removed; (iii) by inverting the agar in a Petri dish containing the fungal culture; (iv) by pouring a layer of agar over a colony. In all cases hyphae which emerged from the submerged phase produced many sclerotia synchronously. When grown in shaken liquid culture S. rolfsii did not produce any sclerotia while submerged, but when samples of the shaken culture were poured into a Petri dish 50 to 90 h after inoculation and incubated further, sclerotial initials were formed synchronously within 16 h on the liquid surface.