Optimization of vegetative growth conditions for submerged cultivation of edible medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus through resonance surface methodology

Edible medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus commonly known as Lion’s mane contains various bioactive metabolites associated with many health benefits and used as nutraceuticals. The objective of this study was to optimize vegetative growth conditions. In this study, conditions such as pH, temperature, and agitation of the fermenter were used to study the relative effect on biomass in the submerged medium. The experiments were designed using the Box Behnken Design (BBD). A total of 17 trial runs with varying ranges were carried out. Vegetative growth condition variables were found to play a decisive role in determining the quantity of the total biomass production in submerged conditions. The response surface methodology (RSM) was further used to analyze the results and finally to optimize the relationship of growth conditions. The results showed that maximum biomass production (34.44g/l) was at temperature 24.4 o C, pH 6.4, and 147.4 rpm agitation. The predicted maximal growth was within 0.13-1.49 percent error of the experimental data under these conditions. With R 2 value > 0.9, the model produced an acceptable outcome. Therefore, we concluded that these indicator parameters can be used for better production of mycelium biomass and metabolites, used for medicinal