Alternative medium for production of Pleurotus ostreatus biomass and potential antitumor polysaccharides

Pleurotus species are recognized for producing β-glucans with important medicinal properties as a constituent of the cellular wall of the fruiting body or of the mycelium. The aims of this work were to select a culture medium that maximized the production of biomass and polysaccharides produced by Pleurotus ostreatus DSM 1833 and to evaluate the selected medium in two values of initial oxygen transfer rate – KLa (10.2 and 19.3 h−1). A 2**4 factorial design was constructed to evaluate the supplementation of wheat extract with corn steep liquor – CSL (10 or 20 g L−1), yeast extract – YE (2 or 5 g L−1), ammonium sulfate – AS (0 or 5 g L−1) and glucose (20 or 40 g L−1). In terms of maximum productivity in biomass and global productivity in polysaccharides, the best values were obtained when 5 g L−1 of YE and 40 g L−1 of glucose were used. In terms of maximum concentration of biomass, the best results were obtained when 20 g L−1 of CSL and 40 g L−1 of glucose were used. The best results in terms of production of biomass and polysaccharides were achieved when lower initial KLa (10.2 h−1) was used.