K. marxianus CCA510 was obtained from the Laboratory of Agricultural and Molecular Microbiology – LACAM of Federa lUniversity FederalUniversity of São Carlos – UFSCar, São Carlos, Brazil. The cultures were stored on slant agar YEPD (Yeast Extract Peptone Dextrose)containing: 10 g L−1yeast extract; 20 g L−1peptone; 20 g L−1dex-trose and 20 g L−1agar at 4◦C. For inoculum preparation, Petriplates containing YEPD agar were inoculated with the microorgan-ism and incubated at 30◦C for 48 h. Afterwards, three colonies weretransferred to the inoculum medium (20 g L−1glucose; 0.4 g L−1urea; 1.2 g L−1KH2PO4; 0.18 g L−1Na2HPO4 and 10 g L−1yeastextract), which was maintained in an orbital shaker (Tecnal – TE420) at 30◦C, 200 rpm for 24 h. Thereafter, samples were taken from the inoculum culture media, cell concentration was measured by absorbance (at 600 nm) and the dry cell concentration was determined with a calibration curve. Then, the cells were centrifuged and washed with sterile distilled water to be used as inoculum.