Comparative Study of Growth of Piriformospora indica by using Different Sources of Jaggery

Piriformospora indica is a root endophytic fungus that build a symbiotic association with the roots of a vascular host plants and induces overall plant growth. The P.indica can grown on a variety of synthetic and complex media. But these readymade medium consist of about 20-25 expensive chemicals. To minimise the cost for P.indica production (Arora et al 2014 and Varma et al, 2015) have already standardized a cost effective Jaggery medium (4% w/v) as a energy nutrient source for mass cultivation of P. indica with no compromise on quality. But growth of fungus varies substantially with different sources of Jaggery. So we collect Jaggery from four different sources i.e from 1. Local shop, 2. Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, 3. Safal, New Delhi and 4.Organic Jaggery to check its impact on fungal growth and also check its efficacy on Spinach (Spinacia oleracea). The data observed from the present study shows that maximum growth of P.indica in terms of dry cell weight, radial diameter and spore count was recorded on Safal Jaggery medium as compared to other Jaggery medium. Moreover, fungal biomass grown on this medium showed positive effect on growth of spinach as it leads to increase in plant height and its dry and fresh weight. This finding suggest that Safal Jaggery medium is a cheaper and best source for commercial cultivation of P.indica.