GROWING HERICIUM CORALLOIDES

Hericium сoralloides is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. The species is edible when young with fruit bodies ranging 10-50 cm, fruiting at the end of summer to the middle of autumn mainly on the dead wood of beech. The fruiting bodies of H. coralloides are of interest as a source of biologically active substances with antidepressant properties, as a source of substances that can inhibit free radical oxidation, are effective in the treatment of some degenerative diseases of the nervous system, malignant neoplasms, sleep disorders, etc. H. coralloides grows in culture on agar nutrient media, on some plant substrates. Therefore, the research on the selection of substrates suitable for establishing the cultivation of the species on an industrial scale is important. The article investigates the possibility of growing fruiting bodies of H. coralloides in laboratory conditions on a combined moistened plant substrate weighing 1.1 kg, consisting of wheat grain, sunflower husk and beech sawdust. As a result of using the combined substrate, it was possible to grow fruiting bodies weighing 44±3 g, with dimensions of 9-10×7-8×4-5 cm. The duration of complete overgrowth of the substrate with mushroom mycelium was 27±2 days at 25 ºC, the beginning of fruiting took place for 42±3 days from the moment of inoculation at 20-22 ºС. The duration of fruiting was 14-18 days. There was only one wave of fruiting. The search for substrates and their combinations, the selection of conditions and cultivation regimes in order to obtain H. сoralloides fruiting bodies with sizes close to those described in nature, will continue. Key words: cultivation, Hericium coralloides, fruit bodies, plant substrates.