VIEW ARTICLE

Techniques

Carnation Leaves as a Substrate and for Preserving Cultures of Fusarium species. Nancy L. Fisher, Research assistant in Plant Pathology, Fusarium Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802; L. W. Burgess(2), T. A. Toussoun(3), and Paul E. Nelson(4). (2)Senior lecturer, Department of Plant Pathology and Agricultural Entomology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, N.S.W., 2006, Australia; (3)(4)Professors of Plant Pathology, Fusarium Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802. Phytopathology 72:151-153. Accepted for publication 19 May 1981. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-151.

Carnation leaf pieces, sterilized with gamma irradiation, in a water agar medium (carnation leaf agar) promoted good growth, sporulation, and maintenance of the original cultural type of Fusarium spp. Isolates to be preserved were grown from single conidia on carnation leaf agar for 7–10 days. Several colonized carnation leaf pieces were then transferred from the plate to 5-ml vials and covered with sterile skim milk. The vials were loosely stoppered, placed in a tray, quickly frozen with liquid nitrogen, lyophilized, then tightly stoppered, and stored at –30 C. Viability of lyophilized cultures has been 100% since 1978, and cultural variation minimal. The critical components of the procedure are the initial culturing, use of carnation leaf agar, and lyophilization of cultures of appropriate age.