Effects of culture conditions on mycelium biomass and intracellular cordycepin production of Cordyceps militaris in natural medium

Abstract

Effects of culture conditions on the growth of mycelium and the production of intracellular cordycepin of Cordyceps militaris were investigated in this study. The natural medium which is a mixture of 53% brown rice paste, 6% beerwort and 42% soybean meal juice was used for the fermentation in shaking flasks. Fermentation temperature, pH and medium capacity, which had been proved to be significant factors, were optimized by Box-Behnken design. Results showed that dry mycelia weight (DMW) and cordycepin yield (CY) was varied with the transformation of culture conditions. The highest DMW (19.1 g/L) and CY (1.8 mg/g) would be obtained at the condition of fermentation temperature 28 °C, pH 6.2 and medium capacity 57 mL.