Production of biomass, polysaccharides, and ganoderic acid using non-conventional carbon sources under submerged culture of the Lingzhi or Reishi medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum (W.Curt.:Fr.)P. Karst. (higher Basidiomycetes).

The effect of different non-conventional carbon sources was studied in the submerged culture of Lingzhi or Reishi medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, for simultaneous production of mycelial biomass, bioactive ganoderic acid, and polysaccharides, in less time, using non-conventional carbon sources to minimize the high costs of current culture media. The optimal medium composition was defined as (g/L): 50 of barley flour, 0.2 of KH2PO4, 0.1 of MgSO4ⁱ7H2O, and 1 NH4Cl. Cultivated under this complex culture medium, the mycelial biomass production was 23.49 ± 0.37 g/L; the extracellular polysaccharides production was 2.72 ± 0.11 g/L; the intracellular polysaccharides production was 2.22 ± 0.06 g/L; the ganoderic acids production was 299.67 ± 11.63 mg/L. One liter of culture medium developed in this project was priced at USD $ 0.11 if barley flour is used as carbon source or $ 0.13 with oat flour in order to get a good amount of products of interest.