The inoculum was prepared by placing 100 g of moist oat bran
into 500 ml Erlenmeyer flasks, and autoclaving at 121 8C for
20 min on three successive days. The oat bran was then
inoculated with spore suspensions (25 ml) of each isolate in
20% glycerol (10 8 cfu ml ?1 ) and incubated at 28 8C in the dark
for 3 weeks. The flasks were occasionally shaken to ensure
uniform colonization. Colonized oat bran which had been
autoclaved twice served as the control in non-inoculated pots.