Effects of Incubation Time and “Browning” on Yield and Proximate Composition of the Edible Mushroom Lentinula edodes

Abstract

Lentinula edodes is the most consumed mushroom in the world, being cultivated mainly on waste coming from the forest industry. During shiitake cultivation, incubation is essential and is usually longer than in other edible mushrooms. This stage includes “browning”, which is a process induced by exposure to a photoperiod and although it is believed to bring certain advantages to shiitake cultivation, it has not been widely studied. In this work, we evaluated how the incubation time, the use of different strains and the induction of browning affect the proximate composition, biological efficiency and other yield parameters of L. edodes. In order to do that, three experiments were carried out with three different strains, three different incubation times and the effect of induction or non-induction of browning. As results we found that the proximate composition did not vary with respect to the different incubation times or from the induction of browning, although differences were found according to the strain. On the other hand, the biological efficiency was affected by the incubation time and the strain used, but not by the induction of browning.