Mary Rose T. Escalante, Ricky B. Acanto, Marjohn Thomas N. Conlu, Mary Grace F. Langcoy, Susan V. Lirazan, Julie Ann B. Mario
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A B S T R A C T
Household kitchen wastes (HKW) are escalating due to rapid population growth and urbanization. To address the negative impact of throwing the HKW, the utilization and production of valuable bio-resourced potential for farmers are crucial. The study aimed to determine the growth of Trichoderma harzianum using discarded cassava, taro, sweet potato, and arrowroot peelings collected from households. Oven-dried wastes were extracted in vacuo to obtain the starch, used as alternative culture media, and compared with potato dextrose agar (PDA). The result showed that T. harzianum growth in formulated culture media had similar surface color characteristics in the colony grown in PDA. Variations in texture and hyphal thickness occurred among culture media: cassava peelings have slightly compact with concentric rings; taro and sweet potato peelings have concentric rings; arrowroot and PDA produced puffy concentric rings. Thin hyphal thickness was observed in both PDA and arrowroot, while the three media have moderately thick to thick characteristics. The linear growth of different culture media formulated from HKW is comparable to PDA, used as the standard culture medium for T. harzianum. The result suggests that the different starch-based HKW may be used as alternative culture media for the commercial production of T. harzianum, which may support pests’ biocontrol and the farmers’ increased yield.