Culture Medium-dependent Antifungal Activity of Endophytic Deniquelata quercina against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Center, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran

2 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

10.22080/jgr.2026.32810.1486

Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a destructive soilborne phytopathogen affecting agricultural crops. Endophytic fungi as valuable antimicrobial sources provide sustainable biological control strategies. The type of culture medium substantially affects the antifungal activity of endophytic fungi. For each production medium, we used a corresponding assay medium with the same basal composition. This study evaluated four liquid culture media for their effects on the antifungal activity of Deniquelata quercina, an endophytic fungus isolated from the roots of Tamarix sp., against S. sclerotiorum. D. quercina isolate 8B2B was recovered from healthy Tamarix roots in Khormoj, Bushehr Province, Iran. The antifungal activity of D. quercina was assessed in four liquid media (potato dextrose broth, tryptic soy broth, malt extract broth, and yeast extract broth) using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the percentage of mycelial growth inhibition on days 4 and 7, following a completely randomized design with three replicates. The ITS sequence of D. quercina isolate 8B2B was deposited in GenBank under accession number OP710154. The MIC results showed that culture filtrates of D. quercina obtained from potato dextrose broth and tryptic soy broth media exhibited the greatest inhibitory activity against S. sclerotiorum, with a MIC of 3.12%, compared with 6.25% for malt extract broth and >50% for yeast extract broth. Culture filtrates obtained from PDB and TSB media exhibited the highest inhibitory activity, with an MIC of 3.12%. In contrast, the filtrate obtained from malt extract broth (MEB) medium had an MIC of 6.25% and ranked next. The culture filtrate produced in yeast extract broth (YEB) medium showed no observable inhibitory effect on the growth of S. sclerotiorum up to a concentration of >50%. In the mycelial growth inhibition assay, potato dextrose broth showed the highest inhibition on day 7, with a mean of 99.60%, followed by tryptic soy broth at 94.05%. MEB and YEB demonstrated inhibition rates of 19.05% and 10.71%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of antifungal activity of D. quercina against S. sclerotiorum. Moreover, our findings reveal a marked dependence of this activity on the culture medium, with potato dextrose broth yielding the most pronounced inhibitory effects. These results emphasize that optimization of fermentation conditions is essential for the reliable screening and development of endophytic fungi as potential candidates for further biocontrol evaluation.

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References

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Journal of Genetic Resources
Volume 12, Issue 2
In Progress
2026
Pages 220-231

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