Conditions for the Production of Pigment from Two Kind of Fusarium oxysporum Strains

The genus Fusarium are capable of producing many kinds of pigments with different of functions. To explore the resources of natural pigments of the genus Fusarium, the effects of light, different temperature and pH on the production of pigment from two isolates of Fusarium oxysporum cultured on PDA medium were investigated. The results were different between the nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum isolate 1262 and the Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Conglutinans isolate Foc-am. The isolate of 1262 produced purple pigment when the medium of pH 7. When the medium pH 7, it produced a small amount of pigment or no pigment. The light and culture temperature were irrelevant to its pigment production. As to Foc-am, it produced orange pigment in light. And culturing temperature and the medium pH showed irrelevant to its pigment production. The result shows that the ambient conditions for produce pigments of the two isolates of Fusarium oxysporum are different, and by changing the ambient conditions to make the Fusarium oxysporum which is normally unable to produce pigment produce pigment give us a new method to explore new resources of natural pigments.