Acceleration of Hericium erinaceum mycelial growth in submerged culture using yogurt whey as an alternative nitrogen source

The effects of various carbon sources and their initial concentrations on mycelia production by Hericium erinaceum were investigated by determining the dry cell weight (DCW) and β-glucan content of mycelia in submerged culture. Glucose and xylose were superior carbon sources for promoting mycelial growth re-sulting in mycelial concentrations of 3.99 g/L and 4.01 g/L, respectively; glucose was the best carbon source in terms of productivity (0.44 g/L/day). Experiments were also performed using yogurt whey as an alternative nitrogen source for submerged cultivation of H. erinaceum mycelia, and DCW and β-glucan content were compared with those with chemical nutrient medium. When whey was used as a nitrogen source, DCW and total amount of β-glucan were 2.3- and 2.8-fold higher, respectively, than that with chemical nutrient medium. Thus, whey appears to be an alternative nitrogen source for promoting H. erinaceum mycelial growth.

Copyright © 2012 Chikako Asada, Ryosuke Okumura, Chizuru Sasaki, Yoshitoshi Nakamura et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.