ABSTRACT

The present study investigates the exopolysaccharide (EPS) and biomass production of 18 strains of 15 species of culinary-medicinal higher Basidiomycetes in submerged culture under four different media. Gloeophyllum abietinum and Schizophyllum commune produced the highest EPS and biomass amounts—3.81 and 14.68 g L⁻¹, respectively—after 5 days of incubation. The other good EPS producers were Pleurotus eryngii (3.69 g L⁻¹) and Ganoderma carnosum D 21 (3.54 g L⁻¹). On the other hand, Trametes versicolor SV 1, Lentinus strigosus, Clavariadelphus truncatus, and Trametes hirsuta yielded relatively higher biomass values, 11.91, 10.54, 10.50, and 10.18 g L⁻¹, respectively. A considerable increase in EPS and biomass production was observed when the mushrooms were grown in liquid culture (LQ) and potato malt peptone (PMP) medium, respectively. The EPS/biomass ratio of Gloeophyllum abietinum on the 5th day in LQ medium was 3.4, which is 3.6, 1.5, and 15.5 times higher than with PMP, YM, and MCM media, respectively. The results suggest that EPS production is not growth associated for the investigated species and strains. This is the first report on EPS production of native higher Basidiomycetes isolates from Turkey.