A novel dodine-free selective medium based on the use of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) to isolate Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato and Paecilomyces lilacinus from soil.

This study evaluated the quaternary ammonium compound cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as an alternative to the chemically related dodecylguanidine (dodine) for the selective isolation of entomopathogenic fungi. Oatmeal agar (OA) with chloramphenicol was used as basal medium, and three concentrations of CTAB (0.5, 0.6, 0.7 g/L) were evaluated and compared against OA + 0.46 g/L dodine. Selective isolation and growth studies were performed with the entomopathogens Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae s.l. and Paecilomyces lilacinus and five common non-entomopathogenic non-target species. The three entomopathogenic fungi sporulated earlier on OA + 0.6 g/L CTAB than on OA + 0.46 g/L dodine, while none of the non-target fungi sporulated on OA + 0.6 g/L CTAB. All entomopathogenic fungal isolates grew on OA + 0.6 g/L CTAB, despite some intra-species variation, whereas non-target fungi showed no growth or sporulation. OA + 0.6 g/L CTAB resulted in an efficient medium to isolate B. bassiana, M. anisopliae s. l. and P. lilacinus from soil samples. Results of our study suggest that OA + 0.6 g/L CTAB is a suitable, simple and inexpensive to prepare medium to replace OA + 0.46 g/L dodine for the selective isolation of these fungi.