Kinetics of infective juvenile production of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in submerged monoxenic culture

The effects of culture medium formulations on the kinetics of infective juvenile (IJ) production of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in submerged monoxenic culture, were studied at the cylindrical-bottle scale using six culture media containing agave juice from Agave spp. among other ingredients. The IJ production kinetics was well modelled through a re-parameterised 3-parameter Gompertz model with kinetic parameters: IJ-lag phase λIJ (day), maximum IJ-stage production rate mmax (day−1), and IJ-multiplication factor (CIJ/CIJ,0)max(−). The variation of λIJ was not very important within fermentations (10.3–16.2 days); nonetheless, important effects were observed on mmax (32.8–241.2 days−1) and (CIJ/CIJ,0)max (66(−) to 611.4(−)). Particularly, maximum values of mmax and (CIJ/CIJ,0)max were obtained in medium A4 (0.276 l l−1 agave juice, 17 g l−1 yeast extract, 12 g l−1 dried egg yolk, 0.025 l l−1 corn oil). Also, the maximum IJ concentration (249,444 per ml) was achieved in A4-fermentations.