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Evaluation of different agricultural wastes for the production of fruiting bodies and bioactive compounds by medicinal mushroom Cordyceps militaris.

BACKGROUND: In commercial production of Cordyceps militaris (a famous Chinese medicine), usually cereal grains were utilized as cultivation substrates. This study is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of agricultural wastes as substitute materials in the low cost production of C. militaris. Cottonseed shells (CS), corn cob particles (CCP), Italian poplar sawdusts (IPS) and substrates spent by Flammulina velutipes (SS) were employed to cultivate C. militaris, using rice medium as control. RESULTS: CS and CCP were suitable for the fruit body formation of C. militaris, with yields of 22 g bottle(-1) and 20 g bottle(-1) respectively. The fruit bodies grown on CCP showed the highest levels of cordycepin and adenosine up to 9.45 mg g(-1) and 5.86 mg g(-1) , respectively. The content of D-mannitol in fruit body obtained on CS was 120 mg g(-1) (80% of the control group), followed by that on CCP, 100 mg g(-1) . The fruit bodies cultivated on CCP displayed a high crude polysaccharide level of 26.9 mg g(-1) , which was the mostly close to the control group (34.5 mg g(-1) ). CONCLUSION: CS and CCP are effective substrates for the production of fruit body and bioactive compounds by C. militaris. This study provides a new approach of decreasing the cost of C. militaris cultivation and dealing with these agricultural wastes.