Vol. 12, Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
Dr. Deepa Rani CV, Dr. Safia NE, Ashitha MR and Lulu Das

Abstract:
Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) is one of the most important culinary and medicinal mushroom having anticancerous properties in the world. Traditionally, Shiitake has been cultivated on oak logs but recently there is a trend to cultivate it on sterilized or pasteurized substrates in order to increase yield and to reduce the time of its growth cycle. Mushroom cultivation has received little attention in most developing countries where millions of tons of lignocellulose rich wastes are unused. The present work aimed to determine the ideal culture medium, optimum temperature and pH for the invitro vegetative growth of Shiitake mushroom. The mushroom was found to grow best in Malt extract peptone dextrose agar medium followed by oat meal agar at an optimum temperature of 20 ºC and pH of 6.00.