Effects of culture periods on fruiting body formation and bioactive compounds production of Cordyceps militaris

Abstract

© 2020 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved. Cordyceps militaris was traditionally used as a tonic and traditional folk medicine, especially in East Asia. Adenosine and cordycepin (3’-deoxyadenosine) were an important active ingredient of C. militaris. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of culture periods on physico-chemical characteristics of fruiting body (fresh weight, length, firmness, total soluble solids concentration (TSS), and color) and determine the bioactive compounds (adenosine and cordycepin) production of C. militaris. The experimental design was a Completely Randomized Design. C. militaris was cultured on the rice culture medium (PDB, white rice, silkworm pupa and egg) for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 weeks. Results showed that the fresh weight, length, TSS of fruiting body were significantly increased as the culture period increased and was stable from the 7th till the 9th week. The lightness (L*) decreased as the culture period increased while the redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) were increased and then slightly decreased from the 2nd to the 9th week. Adenosine and cordycepin contents were detected after the 1st week of culture periods. They significantly increased from the 1st till the 7th week of the culture periods. After 7 weeks, these bioactive compounds significantly decreased. This experiment revealed that the optimal harvesting time for C. militaris was the 7th week. At this culture period time, the yield of fresh weight of fruiting bodies was 41.77 g bottle-1 and the amounts of adenosine and cordycepin were 2.7 and 6.21 mg g-1, respectively.