Abstract

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Pleurotus pulmonarius is an edible macrofungus that is produced commercially. Cultural studies to determine the most suitable culture media for the vegetative growth was carried out. The effect of environmental and nutritional factors was also investigated. Temperature ranging between 10-25°C and pH values (4.0-8.0) influences was determined on different chemically defined medium (potato dextrose agar, malt extract agar and yeast extract agar). Basal medium was prepared for the nutritional sources (carbon, nitrogen, minerals and vitamins) and all were incubated at 30 ± 2°C for 7days. The mycelia were recovered by sterile filtering and drying. The highest mycelia growth rate was obtained between pH 6.0-8.0 and at 25°C. Fructose was the most utilized carbon source, L-leucine the most utilized nitrogen source and Vitamin C most utilized vitamin source. The most utilized macroelements was the combination of magnessium and calcium while for the microelements the best combination was zinc and copper. These requirements are suitable for the optimal production of active mycelium of Pleurotus pulmonarius

Keywords: carbon, mycelia, nitrogen, pH, Pleurotus pulmonarius and vitamins.