Nutritional requirements for mycelial growth of three Lentinus species from the Philippines

Lentinus (Family Polyporaceae) is one of the most common fungal groups of wild edible mushrooms found in the Philippines. In our intention to determine the nutritional requirements, this paper highlights the effect of different carbon sources, nitrogen sources, carbon to nitrogen ratios, mineral salts, organic acids, phytohormones, and vitamins on the mycelia growth of Lentinus swartzii, Lentinus strigosus, and Lentinus tigrinus on solid media. Mycelia favourably grew on starch, fructose, and sucrose and on ammonium chloride, yeast extract, and malt extract at C/N ratio of 10:1, 10:1, and 40:1, respectively. The most suitable minerals were KH2PO4 for L. swartzii, ZnSO4•7H2O for L. strigosus, and all minerals tested except CuSO4•5H2O for L. tigrinus. Organic acids such as lactic acid, acetic acid and citric acid also enhanced the mycelial growth. Growth-stimulating phytohormone, gibberellic acid (GA) and vitamin, pyridoxine produced superior mycelial growth of the three mushrooms. The results suggest the unique nutritional requirements of each Lentinus species evaluated, which are of significance in the formulation of chemically-defined culture media for efficient production of mycelia of consistent quality. © 202