EVALUATION OF YIELD AND BIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY OF Cordyceps militaris ON SWEET POTATO SUBSTRATES

Abstract

The study was conducted to select sweet potato-supplemented substrate for cultivating Cordyceps militaris to achieve the highest yield of fresh mushroom and biological efficiency. In this study, among the eight primary spawn media, C. militaris exhibited the fastest mycelial growth on Martin’s peptone dextrose agar (MPDA; composed of 10 g/l dextrose, 5 g/l peptone, 0.5 g/l MgSO₄ × 7H₂O, 1 g/l KH₂PO₄, 20 g/l agar, pH 6.0) after 28 days of incubation. The mycelial dry weight ranged from 13.5 to 13.7 g/l after 144 h of cultivation on YM medium supplemented with minerals. In the experiment evaluating the growth of C. militaris on five types of sweet potato substrates (white sweet potato, yellow sweet potato, purple sweet potato, ruby sweet potato, and creamy sweet potato), the creamy sweet potato substrate was selected for producing the highest yield and biological efficiency, with values of 18.2 ± 0.7 g/bottle and 41.0 ± 1.1%, respectively. The substrate with the optimal mixing proportion between red rice (Huyet Rong) and creamy sweet potato was 2: 1, achieving the highest total number of primordia 82.3 ± 0.6 primordia/bottle, fruiting body weight 49.6 ± 0.2 g/bottle, and biological efficiency 58.6 ± 1.0%. The adenosine and cordycepin concentration in the dried fruiting bodies reached 2,147 mg/kg and 914 mg/kg, respectively, equivalent to the control sample.