Hatchery practices are pivotal to conservation success. In sea turtle hatcheries, reusing sand is a norm, but it remains unclear whether such an approach increases the risk of Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) infection and mortality in sea turtle eggs. We employed 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing in sands and isolated Fusarium strains from diseased eggs across seven turtle hatcheries and their neighbouring beaches in Malaysia. FSSC was isolated from all sampled hatcheries, and Fusarium falciforme was the predominant species (82.9%). All but one hatchery had a distinct microbiota and higher abundance of FSSC (mean = 5.2%) than the nesting beaches (mean = 1.3%). The hatchery that maintained the most stringent practice by not reusing sand had a microbiota resembling that of nesting beaches, and the lowest FSSC abundance. The results of the current study imply that sand should not be reused in sea turtle hatcheries.

孵化场的实践对保护成功至关重要。在海龟孵化场中，重复使用沙子是一种规范，但尚不清楚这种方法是否会增加海藻卵中镰刀镰刀菌物种复合物（FSSC）感染和死亡的风险。我们在马来西亚的七个海龟孵化场及其附近的海滩上的沙子中，从病卵中分离出镰刀菌菌株，并采用了16S和ITS扩增子测序。从所有采样孵化场和镰 形镰刀菌中分离出FSSC是主要物种（82.9％）。除一个孵化场外，所有孵化场都有一个独特的微生物群落，FSSC的丰度（平均值= 5.2％）高于筑巢海滩（平均值= 1.3％）。孵化场通过不重复使用沙子来保持最严格的操作，其微生物群落类似于筑巢海滩，而FSSC丰度最低。目前的研究结果表明，不应在海龟孵化场中重复使用沙子。