Characterization of a Biofilm Bioreactor Designed for the Single-Step Production of Aerial Conidia and Oosporein by Beauveria bassiana PQ2

Abstract

Beauveria bassiana is an entomopathogenic fungus that is used for the biological control of different agricultural pest insects. B. bassiana is traditionally cultivated in submerged fermentation and solid-state fermentation systems to obtain secondary metabolites with antifungal activity and infective spores. This work presents the design and characterization of a new laboratory-scale biofilm bioreactor for the simultaneous production of oosporein and aerial conidia by B. bassiana PQ2. The reactor was built with materials available in a conventional laboratory. KLa was determined at different air flows (1.5–2.5 L/min) by two different methods in the liquid phase and in the exhaust gases. The obtained values showed that an air flow of 2.5 L/min is sufficient to ensure adequate aeration to produce aerial conidia and secondary metabolites by B. bassiana. Under the conditions studied, a concentration of 183 mg oosporein per liter and 1.24 × 109 spores per gram of support was obtained at 168 h of culture. These results indicate that the biofilm bioreactor represents a viable alternative for the production of products for biological control from B. bassiana.

Performance of Metarhizium rileyi Nm017: nutritional supplementation to improve production and quality conidia

“…Nevertheless, propagules have a short life span and poor tolerance to adverse environmental conditions (Muñoz et al 1995 ; Zaki et al 2020 ; Jaronski 2023 ). Solid-state fermentation is the most used cultivation system for fungi, because it recreates the natural way they grow and produces aerial conidia (De la Cruz-Quiroz et al 2016 ; Lara-Juache et al 2021 ). These propagules are the main active ingredient in mycopesticides due to their process reproducibility, tolerance to abiotic stresses, infection performance, and easy mass production on a low-cost substrate (Hölker and Lenz 2005 ; Ibrahim et al 2015 ; Mascarin and Jaronski 2016 ; Sala et al 2019 ).…”