Penicillium Cultivation Methods
Michael Reed
Email:
grasshopper_60619@yahoo.com
In 2005 I performed an experiment on the cultivation of Penicillium
on the Navel Orange (Citrus
sinensis) and Apple (Malus
sylvestre var. domestica ) halves. I used some tap water, plastic sandwich bags,
and a 42-oz. oatmeal container for the cultivation of Penicillium on the fruit halves. I
present the methods that I used for the experiment.
I used an old navel orange (C.
sinensis) and apple (M.
s var. domestica) as media, for the cultivation of Penicillium colonies. First,
I cut both fruits in half, along the middle/equator, so
that both hemispheres are shown.
Second, I watered the inside and outside of the fruit
halves, with different amounts of tap water. The first fruit halves received four to five
drops (control set), and the second set had six to seven
drops of water (experimental set). Third, I placed the apple
and orange halves in two bags, each bag receiving one of
each half. Finally,
I placed the bags in the vegetable cooler in our refrigerator.
| Day |
Control
Colonies |
Experiemental
Colonies |
|
Total
Colonies |
|
Orange |
Apple |
Orange |
Apple |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
| 2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
| 3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
| 4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
| 5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
5 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
7 |
|
| 7 |
61 |
1 |
83 |
6 |
|
|
151 |
|
| 8 |
62 |
1 |
99 |
6 |
|
|
168 |
|
| 9 |
82 |
101 |
180 |
5 |
|
|
368 |
|
| 10 |
100 |
120 |
200 |
46 |
|
|
466 |
|
| 11 |
200 |
200 |
400 |
46 |
|
|
846 |
|
| 12 |
200 |
250 |
900 |
110 |
|
|
1460 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| MEAN |
32.486 |
12.526 |
217.71 |
12.583 |
|
|
144.31 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ZTEST |
0.1125 |
0.0462 |
0.7936 |
0.2547 |
|
|
0.1333 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| STADEV |
107.29 |
140.85 |
469.24 |
60.119 |
|
|
804.47 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table 1. Penicillium colonies on apple (Malus sylvestris var.domestica) and navel orange (Citrus sinensis
After three days, I placed the bags in an old, 42-oz oatmeal container
and put it under the bookshelf in my room, near the heating
duct. During the
experiment, I observed and recorded the number of Penicillium colonies on the orange and
apple halves (although, there were some old mold colonies
on the bottom of the orange). I did not have any equipment
that I could use to make exact count of mold colonies, but
I used the naked eye to make a guess on groups of Penicillium. Every day, I counted the colonies
by observing the number of white and blue spots on each
fruit surface.
To observe some Penicillium mold, I cleaned a microscope slide, which came with the
Tasco Light Microscope set, with 70% isopropyl alcohol and
placed some colonies from the orange and added some water and alcohol to the slide.
Under the microscope, I observed some more Penicillium
on the slide with the alcohol and water.
On both fruits, I observed some colonies that had
blue conidia and condiospores. I added the number of both types of colonies
and wrote the results for that day.
I used the statistic function of Microsoft Excel
to calculate the mean, standard deviation, and the Z test
for the number of colonies per day. 
