Efficient production of biomass and exopolysaccharide from P. ostreatus and physio-chemical characterization of biomass powder

Abstract

Mycelium biomass and exopolysaccharides (EPS) from Pleurotus ostreatus origin have gained peculiar attention because of their myriad applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Mycelial growth is greatly dependent on fermentation media and physical conditions. This study aims to optimize mycelium biomass and EPS using one factor at a time (OFAT) approach. The current study investigates the effect of the concentration of various carbon, nitrogen sources, metal ions, and cell numbers in inoculum for biomass and EPS production. The results revealed that the 5% w/v malt extract and 2% w/v glucose combined with 0.05% w/v of Mg+ ions gave the maximum yield of biomass and EPS as 31.55 g/L and 6.65 g/L respectively. A high protein and total phenolics content have been obtained in the supernatant of media as 5.178 g/L and 104.18 mg GAE/g dry weight respectively. Furthermore, the obtained lyophilized biomass powder was investigated by FTIR which showed the presence of proteins and polysaccharides. The morphology and elemental composition were observed by SEM-EDS. XRD pattern showed the amorphous nature of biomass but the presence of chitin was also observed.