Effects of Incubation Time and “Browning” on Yield and Proximate Composition of the Edible Mushroom Lentinula edodes

Abstract

Lentinula edodes is the most consumed mushroom in the world, being cultivated mainly on waste coming from the forest industry. During shiitake cultivation, incubation is essential and is usually longer than in other edible mushrooms. This stage includes "browning", which is a process induced by exposure to a photoperiod and although it is believed to bring certain advantages to shiitake cultivation, it has not been widely studied. In this work, we evaluated how the incubation time, the use of different strains and the induction of browning affect the proximate composition, biological efficiency and other yield parameters of L. edodes. In order to do that, three experiments were carried out with three different strains, three different incubation times and the effect of induction or non-induction of browning. As results we found that the proximate composition did not vary with respect to the different incubation times or from the induction of browning, although differences were found according to the strain. On the other hand, the biological efficiency was affected by the incubation time and the strain used, but not by the induction of browning. HIGHLIGHTS• Induction of browning and incubation time do not affect Shiitake proximate composition.• Induction of browning does not affect Shiitake biological efficiency.• The strain used changes Shiitake proximate composition.• The strain used and incubation time affect Shiitake biological efficiency.

Incubation period of axenic shiitake (Lentinula edodes L.) blocks

“…Similar results were obtained in shiitake studies ('WC380', 'WC377', and 'LE12'), where no influence of 60, 90, and 120 days of incubation was observed on mushroom diameter and mass(Royse & Bahler 1986). However, in studies with shiitake 'ICFC 510/03' for incubation periods of 30, 50, and 70 days, a 70-day incubation period resulted in larger mushroom diameter and mass(Alberti et al 2022), as observed for 'PSU 305' with incubation periods of 58 and 116 days, where the 116-day period yielded mushrooms with greater mass and diameter(Royse 1985).Previous reports indicate that the strain used may behave differently for both substrate and cultivation environment, and mushroom mass and size may be related to inherent genetic characteristics (Alice W. Chen 2005, Zied & Pardo-Giménez 2017), explaining the lack of influence of the incubation period on these variables in this experiment.In this study, a 70-day incubation period showed a smaller brown cap coverage area (63.54%) compared to a 110-day incubation period, which exhibited a brown cap coverage area of 92.17% (Figure2). Despite the smaller coverage, after removal from the cultivation bag and throughout the production period, the brown cap continued to develop, achieving complete block surface coverage.…”

“…Parameters evaluated after the first flush, at 30 days for all incubation periods, included the earliness of production start (PS), calculated by the difference between the opening date and the production start; productivity (PR) calculated as a percentage of the final mushroom mass to axenic block fresh mass (1000g); biological efficiency (BE) calculated as a percentage of the final mushroom mass to axenic block after the production time; the number of mushrooms (NM) produced, and cap diameter (CD) (Alberti et al 2022). Additionally, cap brown formation area (ACM) was assessed on block opening day using ImageJ® software.…”

Optimal Culture Conditions for the Enhanced Mycelial Growth and Cultivation of Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinula edodes)

“…Shiitake naturally thrives in temperate climates and grows on dead trees by degrading cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (Chen et al, 2016). Although shiitake requires a longer incubation period than most mushrooms, including time for colonization, lumping, browning, and pinning (Alberti et al, 2022), it can be grown on several substrates, such as sawdust (Ashrafuzzaman et al, 2009), corncobs (Yu et al, 2022), and sunflower seed hulls (Curvetto et al, 2002). For centuries, shiitake has been cultivated on artificial substrates or logs under conditions similar to its natural habitat for commercial purposes in Japan, Korea, and China (Koo et al, 2016;Kwon et al, 2018).…”