Effect of Using Whey in the Submerged Culture of Grifola umbellata

Abstract

Grifola umbellata (Fries) is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicinal mushrooms, and has been termed as Polyporus umbellatus or Chuling in the scientific reports [1-2]. It was noted that polysaccharide from G. umbellata possesses outstanding anti-tumor effects [3]. In this study, the effects of cultural condition on the mycelial growth and exopolysaccharide (EPS) production were studied. Various carbohydrates such as sucrose, lactose, and xylose added into the basal medium as carbon sources. It is found that the highest mycelia dry cell weight (DCW) and EPS productions were obtained when glucose was used. In the nitrogen sources test, it was found that both the yeast extract and whey were beneficial to the mycelial growth. In consideration on the cost of the medium, the effects of whey broth on biomass and EPS productions were studied. Various whey broths (25-100%) were tested It was observed that when the whey broth in concentration of 50% can significantly improved the DCW and EPS productions. In the optimal study, it was concluded that the optimal medium compositions were as follows: glucose 3%, whey broth 50%, 0.1% KH2PO4, 0.1% MgSO4 ‧ 7H2O and 0.005% vitamin B1. Under the conditions, the maximum biomass and EPS productions obtained can reach 6.64 and 0.632 g/L, respectively.