OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE VIABLE INOCULA OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI BY RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY FOR THE FUNGAL CONSORTIUM PREPARATION

Development of pest control measures using entomopathogenic fungi has received increased attention in various parts of the world to control the wide range of economically important pests associated with various crops. A lot of research has been carried out on the exploitation of entomopathogenic fungi for the pharmacological and environmental application.In this study, the effect of nutrient factors of sabouraud maltose yeast extract broth (SMYB) – a major medium used for entomopathogenic fungi cultivation and the process parameters such as pH and temperature on biomass production of Beauveria bassiana, Nomuraea rileyi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Penicillium rubrum was studied by response surface methodology (RSM) and the inocula derived from the fungi was formulated as consortium in jiggery water. Central composition design (CCD) was used for optimizing the parameters. Temperature (X1), pH (X2), Maltose (X3), Peptone (X4) was chosen as independent variables. The maximum percentage of biomass yield is observed at 34.7º C temperature, pH 7.15, peptone 4.52 g/mL and 0.62 g/mL. Biomass thus obtained was formulated in jiggery water and the formulated consortium to be was use for various purposes in the near future.