Measuring Volatile and Non-volatile Antifungal Activity of Biocontrol Products

This protocol provides a method for making accurate side-by-side comparisons of the relative efficacy of volatile and non-volatile antifungal compounds at different fungal growth stages. This method is well-suited for evaluating the antifungal activity of plant-derived products used in dried or liquid forms that contain a wide diversity of molecules. This method can provide valuable information about the mode of application of plant-derived products and is particularly well-suited in the field of biocontrol.

Demonstrating the procedure will be Valentina Gligorijevic, an engineer assistant from the Sup'Biotech laboratory. For conidia collection, layer three milliliters of 0.05%Tween 20 on a trichoderma mycelium culture and use a rake to release the conidia from the conidiophores taking care not to press down on the mycelium to prevent the hyphae from being torn away. When all of the conidia have been released, use a micropipette to quickly recover and add the conidia solution to a 15 milliliter tube for counting.

To prepare fungal plates, deposit 100 microliters of spores at a three times 10 to the six spores per milliliter concentration onto a nine centimeter Petri dish containing PDA medium, and use a sterile spatula to add 10 grams of two millimeter diameter glass beads to the plate. Then gently shake the plate forward and backward and spin and rotate the plate in 90 degree segments until it has been fully rotated to evenly distribute the spores across the surface of the agar. Then incubate the plate at 30 degrees Celsius until growth inhibition analysis.

To perform a contact-inhibition assay with garlic powder, use a sterile spatula to weigh the desired garlic powder quantity into individual 50 milliliter tubes. to obtain concentrations generally ranging from 0.25 to 16 milligrams per milliliter. Add 10 milliliters of approximately 45 degrees Celsius PDA to each tube and carefully invert each tube several times to evenly distribute the powder throughout the agar.

Quickly, pour the homogenized suspensions into five centimeter diameter Petri dishes and allow the agar to solidify at room temperature. To perform a contact-inhibition assay, use a five millimeter diameter sterile stainless steel tube to plot a circle in the center of the agar in the control and antifungal compound-treated dishes, and use a sterile toothpick to dispose of the agar cylinders. Next, use a new five millimeter diameter stainless steel tube to plot 15 to 20 circles randomly into the fungal plates, and use sterile toothpicks to carefully transfer the spore, hyphae, or mycelium-covered cylinders into the empty regions of the PDA plates.

Then return the plates to the 30 degree Celsius incubator. To prepare a plates for a vapor-phase antifungal inhibition assay, pour 10 milliliters of PDA medium into the lid of a five centimeter diameter Petri dish containing 10 milliliters of PDA medium containing antifungal compounds or PDA medium alone, and allow the agar to solidify at room temperature. Using a 50 milliliter centrifical tube as a calibration tool, make a circle of PDA in the center of the agar and use a sterile spatula to remove the agar around the circle.

Use a five millimeter diameter sterile stainless steel tube to plot a circle in the center of the medium in the lid and use a sterile toothpick to discard the auger cylinder. Then use a five millimeter diameter sterile stainless steel tube to randomly make plugs in the prepared fungal plates, and use a sterile toothpick to carefully transfer spore, hyphae, or mycelium-coated plugs into the lids of the assay plates. In this analysis, trichoderma species SBT 10-2018 growth inhibition triggered by three antifungal compounds was evaluated using contact and vapor-phase inhibition assays as demonstrated for each fungal stage.

A higher spore sensitivity to carbendazim was observed compared to early hyphae and mycelium networks when trichoderma and antifungal compounds were in contact. In contrast, carbendozim had no antifungal effect on trichoderma when the fungus was placed at a distance from the fungicide in accordance with the low volatility of this substance. When thymus vulgaris essential oil was used as an antifungal compound, a higher sensitivity was observed for spores and early hyphae as compared to mycelium growth inhibition at 0.025%essential oil.

As expected, thymus vulgaris essential oil presented identical antifungal activity irrespective of the distance between the fungus and the oil. When garlic powder was used, a higher efficacy was observed against spore germination and early hyphae elongation than for mycellium growth. Particular attention must be paid during the fungal plate preparation to make sure that the spores are evenly distributed on the surface of the agar plate to ensure comparable results.