Centre : Central Tuber Crops Research Institute(CTCRI),TVM
Name of the technology :
Floating leaf disc assay for mass production of P. colocasiae zoospores
Mycelial plugs (5 mm diameter) were excised from actively growing cultures of P. colocasiae on carrot agar (CA) medium.The plugs were placed on the adaxial side of the taro leaf discs (5x5 cm; cv Sree Kiran, leaf blight susceptible) floating on 50 ml sterile water in 200 mm sterile petri dishes. The lids of the petri plates were lined with moistened filter paper to maintain high humidity and incubated at 25°C in the dark for 3–4 days. Following incubation, the infected leaf portions were excised, placed with adaxial side upwards in 6-well plates with 2 ml sterile water and slowly immersed in water. Then, the plates were chilled at 4°C for 15 min and thereafter at 37°C for another 30 min. The zoospores will be released in the water.
(1) It could be used for mass production of P. colocasiae zoospores, an essential requirement for any kind of study involving artificial inoculation. (2) It could be used for pathogenecity test and rapid screening of resistance to leaf blight in taro.
It uses taro as a medium for production of zoospores thereby making the zoopsores highly viable and aggressive compared to conventional methods. The method provides ideal condition for the development of mycelia mass over the disc surface, which may be used for studying host-pathogen interaction.
Status of Commercialization : Not applicable