Substrate Influence on Yield and Biometabolite Production in the Caterpillar Medicinal Mushroom Cordyceps militaris (Ascomycetes)

The present work was aimed at studying the effect of different substrates on growth and biometabolite production in Cordyceps militaris fruiting body. Of the seven substrates tested alone and in combination with brown rice, it was observed that the combination of pearl millet and brown rice showed the highest yield of fruit body with biological efficiency of 104.3 ± 2.08%. Among the three major biometabolites (cordycepin, adenosine and D-mannitol), cordycepin was found to be highest [11.05 ± 0.03 mg/g dry weight (DW)] in fruit bodies grown on kidney bean. Adenosine was highest (3.30 ± 0.01 mg/g DW) in fruit bodies grown on pearl millet and D-mannitol content of 15.53 ± 0.23 mg/g DW was observed to be highest in fruit bodies obtained from substrate combination composed of cowpea and brown rice. The study highlights that choice of substrate significantly affects the yield and metabolite production of C. militaris.