Maintenance of aPaecilomyces variotii culture in the frozen and Freeze-dried state and in distilled water

The highest number of viable.elements ofPaecilomyces variotii, forming colonies after a 1-year maintenance, was detected in frozen sample. Decreased viability of the frozen culture and culture maintained in distilled water was usually statistically significant after 1 year and decreased further with increasing age of the culture used for sample preparation. Freeze-drying also significantly decreased the strain viability, depending on culture age. In the freeze-dried culture stored in a refrigerator the relative number of viable elements was substantially higher than after storage at room temperature. After a 3-year storage of freeze-dried P.variotii in a refrigerator 14-44% of culture elements survived, as compared with the number detected immediately after freeze-drying.