Farming of Medicinal Mushrooms.

Since most of the medicinal mushrooms are rare in nature, production of fungal fruiting bodies is hardly covering the food market and the production of pharmaceutically active products, so artificial cultivation of fruiting bodies in a form of farming has been intensively established during the last 40 years. Various cultivation technologies are presented, including traditional farming of fruiting bodies on wood logs and beds, and also on other substrate-based media, such as cultivation in bags, bottles, and others. The advantage of farming is a cheap but time-consuming large-scale production. Agriculture, wood, and food industry wastes represent the main substrates that are in this process delignified and enriched in proteins and highly valuable pharmaceutically active compounds. The present article presents an overview of achievements in artificial cultivation of fruiting bodies, including the most relevant medicinal mushroom species, such as Ganoderma lucidum, Grifola frondosa, Pleurotus ostreatus, Agaricus brasiliensis, and Lentinula edodes.

Cultivation Technologies for Production of Medicinal Mushroom Biomass: Review.

Since most medicinal mushrooms are rare in nature, artificial cultivation and farming of their fruiting bodies as well as biotechnological cultivation of their fungal biomass in bioreactors on solid substrates and in liquid media has been established. This review compares the benefits and weaknesses of all three capabilities. Cultivation technologies are presented, including traditional cultivation via farming of fruiting bodies on wood logs and on sawdust-based substrates and modern biotechnological cultivation of mycelia in bioreactors by submerged and solid-state cultivation technologies. Our findings indicate that farming is cost-effective but large-scale production is time-consuming. In addition, solid-state cultivation is a comprehensive well-controlled technology that is close to the natural growth process and is suitable for veterinary use and use in food supplements. Finally, submerged liquid-state cultivation of mushroom mycelia is fast and well controlled.

Engineering Aspects in Production of Various Medicinal Mushrooms Biomass in Submerged Bioreactors.

Basidiomycetes of various species and their wide range of pharmaceuticaly interesting products in the past decades represents one of the most attractive groups of natural products in Asia and North America. Production of mushroom fruit bodies using farming technology is hardly covering the market. Development of comprehensive submerged technologies in stirred tank and air lift bioreactors are the most promising technologies for fast and large-amount cultivation of medicinal mushroom biomass and its pharmaceutically active products. Research in physiology, basic and applied studies in mushroom metabolism, process engineering aspects, and clinical studies in the past two decades represent a large cotribution to the development of this potential, which initiates the development of new drugs and some very attractive over-the-counter human and veterinary remedies. The current article is an overview of the most relevant engineering achievements in submerged cultivation of some medicinal mushrooms-Grifola frondosa, Trametes versicolor, Hericium erinaceus, and Cordyceps militaris-and some other species biomass production in bioreactors.

Engineering Aspects of Lingzhi or Reishi Medicinal Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (Agaricomycetes) Biomass Submerged Cultivation in Bioreactors: A Review.

The Ganoderma lucidum wood-degrading basidiomycete, with its large complex of pharmacological effects, is the most outstanding and influential medicinal mushroom in Far East traditional medicine. In the past 2 decades, the fundamentals of submerged cultivation of G. lucidum mycelia in bioreactors has been established. Development of comprehensive submerged cultivations in stirred tank and air lift bioreactors are the most promising technologies. This article provides an engineering overview of the achievements in submerged technology of G. lucidum biomass production in bioreactors.

Relation between colour- and phase changes of a leuco dye-based thermochromic composite.

Reversible colour change of leuco dye-based composites is in general closely related to their phase change, thus the two phenomena should occur at around the same temperature and should be influenced similarly. However, spatial confinement of the analysed sample affects the change in colour differently compared to its phase transition and the most pronounced effects can be observed during cooling. The bulk composite is coloured while still liquid and the colour hysteresis does not exhibit a loop. In an open-porous medium the colouration coincides well with the crystallization and the colour hysteresis widens to about 4 °C. Microencapsulated composite exhibits two crystallization processes, one of them taking place at the bulk crystallization temperature and the other one at about 20 °C lower. Under such conditions the composite is coloured just before the onset of the second crystallization, i.e. about 15 °C below crystallization in the bulk, and the corresponding colour hysteresis widens to 18 °C. The two crystallization forms are thermally independent and have the same crystalline structure. These effects should be taken into account when designing future applications where the phase-changing materials are implemented.