Development of low-cost cultivation protocol for Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis)

Ganoderma lucidum commonly known as lingzhi mushroom, or reishi mushroom in some countries, is an edible mushroom known for its medicinal value. This study evaluated the optimum culture media, grain spawn and substrate formulation for the cultivation of G. lucidum. The use of different low-cost culture media, grains and substrate formulations in the preparation of pure cultures, grain spawn bags and fruiting bags of G. lucidum were tested. The largest mycelial diameter was observed in Potato Sucrose Agar (93.45mm) which was significantly higher among all the treatments used. It has very thick mycelial density. Cracked corn as spawning material had the shortest incubation period of 14 days, which showed significant difference compared to sorghum seeds and barley grains. The use of cracked corn also incurred the lowest cost and highest return of investment in grain spawn bag production. For fruiting bag production, substrate combination of 50% sawdust and 30% rice straw supplemented with 20% rice bran was the best formulation for fruiting bag production of G. lucidum which had the highest yield with a mean value of 91.30g and biological efficiency of 20.29%.