GUPTA, DHARMESHTHAKUR, DIKSHA2020-10-292020-10-292020-10https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810153946ABSTRACT The present investigation “Studies on cultivation, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Lion’s mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus)” was under taken to evaluate various cultural requirements, spawn preparation, cultivation, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the test fungus. H. erinaceus is a Chinese edible and medicinal mushroom and out of five solid media tested, potato dextrose agar was the best solid media with fastest growth. Out of five carbon sources tested glucose was found to be best carbon source with radial growth of 40.00 mm and alanine gave the best growth (39.87 mm) among all five nitrogen sources tested. Optimum temperature for H. erinaceus was found to be 250C and it gave best growth at pH 6 among all the pH values tested. H. erinaceus showed best growth when provided with 6h light and 18h darkness which indicated that vegetative growth of this fungus requires more of dark hours as light tends to slow down the mycelial growth. For spawn production, wheat grain was adjudged as best substrate as it took comparatively less number of days for full growth as compared to other grains used. Out of four substrates tested, toona sawdust was the best substrate for cultivation of H. erinaceus as it was found good for all four strains in terms of biological efficiency. Among 4 strains, minimum number of days for completion of spawn run was observed in HE-18-01 in wheat straw. However, the maximum cropping period (99.40 days) was observed in HE-18-01 and maximum biological efficiency was observed in HE-18-08 (79.80 %) for toona sawdust. Four extracts of H. erinaceus were tested against Escherichia coli and Ralstonia solanacearum. Out of four extracts used, water extract showed the maximum inhibition of 25 mm against both the pathogens. Ethanol and methanol extracts also showed inhibition against R. solanacearum but methanol extract does not showed any inhibition against E. coli. Ethyl acetate does not show any inhibition against both the pathogens tested. According to this study, it was inferred from the results that all the extracts prepared showed significant antioxidant activity which was tested by DPPH method. The maximum antioxidant activity was observed from methanol extract (99.20%) at 500 µg/ml concentration. So, it is clear from the study that H. erinaceus can be used as a natural antioxidant source and is helpful for human health.EnglishThesis