Effect of different media on the mycelial growth of Lentinus squarrosulus Mont.

Mushrooms are one of the important bioresources available to the common man especially those who cannot afford to go for protein rich food like mutton, egg, milk etc., Mushrooms are equally supplementing these protein sources, but their availability, rich chemical constituents are not known widely. FAO reported that the average protein consumption per head in developing countries is only half of that of the developed countries. Several attempts have been made to increase the protein production through single cell culture of algae, yeast and many moulds. But these methods are highly expensive, cumbersome and need controlled conditions. In order to bridge the protein gap, mushrooms have come to rescue which has good quality of proteins and major essential amino acids constituting of about 20-45% and also possess amino acids like Lysine, Methionine which are available usually in the animal food. Worldwide there are only dozen species are available for the commercial cultivation. The genus Lentinus is commonly occurs in plains of India. Some of the common species are L. sajor-caju, L. cladopus, L. crinitus, L. prolifer and L. squarrosulus. Among these L. cladopus and L. squarrosulus are known to be edible. (Corner, 1981; Joly and Perreau, 1977). There is a need to increase the number of edible mushrooms. Information on the nutritive value of tropical edible mushroom Lentinus squarrosulus is scanty. The present study has reported the cellular products of Lentinus squarrosulus like total crude proteins, total sugars, reducing sugars, glycogen and lipids content to evaluate the nutritive value of the fungus. For the cultivation of mushroom in submerged culture it is impossible to depend upon a single standard medium. The growth kinetics of Lentinus squarrosulus vary in different media. Natarajan and Raman (1983) reported that sawdust-carrot extract medium was the best for the invitro production of fruiting bodies of Lentinus edodes. Inorganic substances such as glass wool, vermiculite and perlite served satisfactorily in supporting production of fruiting bodies in liquid media (Miles and Chang, 1987).