Liquid and semi-solid culture
media are used to maintain and proliferate bacteria, fungi, and Oomycetes for
research in microbiology and plant pathology. In this study, a comparison was
made between soybean milk medium, also referred to as soymilk, and media
traditionally used for culturing soybean pathogens to determine if soymilk
medium was an effective medium for growth of Colletotrichum truncatum, Fusarium virguliforme, Macrophomina phaseolina, Passalora sojina, Phomopsis longicolla, Phytophthora
sojae, Pythium irregulare, Rhizoctonia solani, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Based on
radial mycelial colony growth rates, C.
sojina grew
significantly (P < 0.05) faster on soymilk dextrose agar
(SDA) than on V-8 agar, and C. truncatum and F. virguliforme grew significantly (P < 0.05)
faster on SDA than potato dextrose agar (PDA). Significantly (P < 0.001) greater masses of sclerotia were produced by S. sclerotiorum grown on SDA as compared
to PDA. Soymilk used with agar or used alone as a broth may be an
option for replacing more expensive processed culture media.