Studies on Koji

The “Paste-medium” technique, described here, has made the separate treatment of the mycelial-part and the substrate-part of koji materials, possible in the study of koji. The ground koji materials were mixed with water to be brought into the state of paste. The paste-medium, whose surface was flattened in a petri-dish and covered with a piece of nylon-cloth, was sterilized in the usual way, in an autoclave. After inoculation and growth of the koji mold on the surface, the mycelial-part together with a piece of nylon, was stripped off, and the corresponding substrate-part was digged out of the paste-medium.

This new method enables us to investigate the effects of some cultural conditions on the growth of Asp. soyae KS.