Comparative Study of Environmental and Nutritional Factors on the Mycelial Growth of Edible Mushrooms

Mushrooms are usually fleshy fungi belonging to either basidiomycota or ascomycota. The optimal culture conditions for the mycelial growth of 371 strains belonging to 9 species of edible mushrooms were investigated. The temperature suitable for the mycelial growth was found to be 25 ºC and optimal range of temperature was 20~30 ºC. Mushrooms have a broad pH range (5~9) for their mycelial growth but mostly favorable pH was between pH 6 and 7. Hamada, Lilly, PDA and YM were the most appropriate nutrient media whereas Czapek Dox, Hoppkins and Hennerberg were the most unsuitable for radial mycelial growth of mushrooms. Among 10 different carbon sources, dextrin, fructose and sucrose were the best while lactose and galactose were the most unfavorable ones. In carbon sources, mycelial density was found to vary from compact to somewhat compact. The most suitable nitrogen sources for mycelial growth were glycine, ammonium acetate and calcium nitrate whereas the most unsuitable were histidine and ammonium phosphate. In case of glycine, mycelial density was found to vary from nearly compact to compact but in the rest of nitrogen sources the mycelial density was rather thin.