Artificial Cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi Medicinal Mushroom) Using Different Sawdusts as Substrates

Abstract

Ganoderma lucidum is a kind of medicinal mushroom possessing anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory, antioxidant and other biological traits which render it to be used as medicinal herbs to combat against variety of diseases. Present study was designed to implement a suitable method for artificial cultivation of G. lucidum in polypropylene bags with variety of cheap and readily available substrates. Sawdusts of five woods (Swietenia mahagoni, Dipterocarpus turbinatus, Tectona grandis, Gmelina arborea and Michelia champaca) were used as substrates and each was supplemented with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and either rice or wheat bran for cultivation. T. grandis, G. arborea and M. champaca were not found to provoke the further extension of mycelial growth and hence the growth was stunted. On the contrary, S. mahagoni and D. turbinatus were noticed to impart comparatively good yield with biological efficiency. Wheat bran was found to be more efficient as supplement than rice bran. However, S. mahagoni supplemented with wheat bran provided the best yield of mushroom among the substrates which took 6 days, 33 days and 60 days for the mycelial growth, primordial formation and harvesting, consecutively with the subsequent yields of 235.2 g/kg and biological efficiency of 7.6%.