English
Selective Media Enhance Culture-Based Recovery of Fungal Diversity from Soybean Microhabitats
Taeho Kim1, Miju Jo2,3and Sook-Young Park1,2,3
1 Dept. of Agricultural Life Science, Sunchon National University, Suncheon, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Plant Medicine, Sunchon National University, Suncheon, Republic of Korea
3 Interdisciplinary Program in IT-Bio Convergence System (BK21 plus), Sunchon National University, Suncheon, Republic of Korea
*Email: spark@scnu.ac.kr
The fungal microbiome associated with soybean (Glycine max) contributes to plant growth and stress tolerance, yet culture-based recovery of diverse fungi remains limited due to media bias. In this study, seven culture media were evaluated to isolate fungi from soybean soil, rhizosphere, and root endosphere samples. Isolates were identified based on colony morphology and ITS rDNA sequencing. A total of 30 fungal species were recovered across the tested media. Among them, 10% potato dextrose agar (PDA) and water agar yielded the highest species diversity, while low-nutrient media enabled the isolation of several taxa considered difficult to culture. These findings demonstrate that medium composition strongly influences the cultivable fungal community associated with soybean and highlight the importance of media selection for expanding culture-based studies of plant-associated fungi. [Supported by RDA, Korea: RS-2025-02653099]
