Optimization of mycelial culture condition and biomass production of selected wild Agaric mushrooms from Luzon Island, Philippines

Agaricomycetous mushrooms are widely utilized as a source of food and or traditional medicine in the world as they exhibit both nutritional and pharmaceutical properties. In order to establish the optimal culture conditions of the 2 Coprinopsis, 2 Leucoagaricus, and 1 Leucocoprinus mushroom, we evaluated the optimum culture medium, pH condition, aeration, illumination, and temperature requirements for the luxuriant mycelial growth of these wild mushrooms. The fruiting body and mycelial biomass production were also carried out in this study to measure mushrooms’ biological efficiency. Among commercially-available culture media, malt extract agar (MEA) was found to be the most suitable for the 4 mushrooms (except C. cinerea ), followed by potato dextrose agar (PDA) for 3 mushrooms ( C. cinerea, C. verticillata, L. cretaceous ). Potato sucrose gulaman (local crude agar) or PSG and corn grit decoction gulaman or CGDG were also found favorable for the growth of Coprinopsis verticilatta and Leucoagaricus americanus, respectively. In terms of pH requirement, L. americanus (pH 5) and Leucoagaricus meleagris (pH 5-6) favored slightly acidic, while the other three mushrooms showed a wide range of pH requirements. C. verticillata and L. meleagris favored sealed condition, while Coprinopsis cinerea favored unsealed condition. However, L. americanus and Leucocoprinus cretaceous showed efficient mycelia growth in both sealed and unsealed conditions. Dark condition were found to be favorable for mycelial growth of both C. cinerea and L. cretaceous, whereas lighted condition was found appropriate for L. americanus mycelia. However, illumination was found to be not important factor for C. verticillata and L. meleagris . All evaluated mushrooms grew best at room temperature conditions (30-32ºC), but C. cinerea, L. meleagris, and L. cretaceous could also thrive at lower temperatures (23-25ºC). Three mushrooms namely, L. amaericanus , L. meleagris, and L. cretaceous successfully produced fruiting bodies in fruiting bags containing rice straw and sawdust at a 7:3 ratio by volume with biological efficiencies (BE) of 5.75%, 5.75%, and 2.3%, respectively. However, the mycelia of C. cinerea and C. verticillata were mass-produced in potato broth in submerged cultivation with 18.18% and 23.86% BE, respectively . Generally, the optimum culture condition for both mycelial growth and fruiting body production were found to be species-dependent.