Cultivation Optimization Techniques for Lignosus Rhinocerus and Enhancing Mycelium Yield and Functional Characteristics

Wu, Wei Li (2025) Cultivation Optimization Techniques for Lignosus Rhinocerus and Enhancing Mycelium Yield and Functional Characteristics. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

Text WU WEI LI_Full Text.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (1MB)

Abstract

Lignocerus rhinocerus or tiger milk mushroom belongs to phylum of Basidiomycota. L.rhinocerus has been used across Asia and to treat illness such as asthma, cough, fever and food poisoning. It is well studied for its anti-inflammatory properties in lung models. L.rhinocerus mycelium growth was required before obtaining its sclerotia. Lab cultivation of L.rhinocerus has gained popularity to meet the market needs and different media used leads to differences in functional bioactive compounds of mycelial biomass as well as mycelium and sclerotia quality. Thus, this project aimed to evaluate the optimal medium for their effects on mycelium yield, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, phenolic and flavonoid content as biochemical products for each medium. That was done as the mycelium of L.rhinocerus was first grown in its prospective agar for 1 to 3 weeks then it was inoculated as 15 plugs with a size of 5mm in diameter into a 200 mL of broth of each respective mediums and shaken under 150 rpm and 30 oC for 2 weeks. The samples were weighted before freeze drying for assay or used as a starter culture for the solid-state substrate for sclerotia growth. PDB medium was used as control for comparison with other mediums. All results were performed in triplicate and analyzed using one-way ANOVA with a confidence interval of 95%. Results showed that mycelium in PDB has the highest yield(%) with a 12±0.57 % yield of mycelium, Malt+ medium was shown to have the highest biochemical products than the other medium, specifically showing higher total phenolic content (TPC) 37.60±1.18 mgGAE/g, higher total flavonoid content (TFC) 32.58±2.90 mgQE/g, superior antioxidant activity via DPPH radical scavenging assay with a IC50 of 12.03±1.06 mg/mL, enhanced anti-inflammatory potential through bovine serum albumin (BSA) denaturation inhibition with a IC50 of 0.93±0.26 mg/mL, and greater antidiabetic activity via α-amylase inhibition of 70.08±0.28 %. Mycelium harvested was used as a starter culture for the solid-state substrate for sclerotia growth. In conclusion, culture using PDB as the media yielded the highest amount of mycelium, where malt + medium has lower yield but showed higher biochemical compounds which is its primary reason for consumption. The current project aligned with United Nation Sustainable Development Goals SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production.