Osmotic effects on radial growth rate and specific growth rate of three soil fungi

Abstract

The radial growth rate on osmotically adjusted agar medium and the relative specific growth rate in osmotically adjusted liquid medium were determined for Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, and Verticillium dahliae. On basal medium, an isolate of P. ultimum and R. solani had similar radial growth rates of 0.52 and 0.47 mm/h, respectively, whereas V. dahliae grew at a rate of 0.08 mm/h. Radial growth rate was reduced 50% at osmotic potentials of −16, −27, and −32 bars for P. ultimum, R. solani, and V. dahliae, respectively. No growth occurred at −32 bars for P. ultimum, −56.2 bars for R. solani, and −100 bars for V. dahlia. Specific growth rates in liquid culture were 0.011 h⁻¹ for P. ultimum, 0.008 h⁻¹ for V. dahliae, and 0.026 h⁻¹ for R. solani. Ratios of radial growth rate (K_r) to specific growth rate (α_s) were computed for each fungus growing at different osmotic potentials. There was not a constant relationship between K_r on agar and α_s in liquid medium, e.g., K_r/α_s ratios varied from 8–41% from a mean ratio for a particular species. The results indicated that radial growth rate on osmotic agar was not useful as a measure of relative specific growth rate of a fungus in osmotically adjusted liquid medium.