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International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms

ISSN for PRINT: 1521-9437

Institutional price:	$538.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2005, Volume7

344 pages

DOI: 10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v7.i12

Issue price - $256.00

Farming Technology, Biochemistry Characterization, and Protective Effects of Culinary-Medicinal Mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis S.Wasser et al. and Lentinus edodes (Berk.) Singer: Five Years of Research in Brazil

Augusto Ferreira da Eira
Department of Plant Production, Agriculture Microbiology, FCA/UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

Ramon Kaneno
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Bioscience of Botucatu/UNESP, P.O. Box 510, ZC 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

Edson Rodrigues Filho
Department of Chemistry, UFSCAR, P.O. Box 676, ZC 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil

Luis Fernando Barbisan
Department of Morphology, IBB/UNESP, ZC 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

Sergio Florentino Pascholati
Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Zoology, ESALQ/USP, P.O. Box 09, ZC 13418-900 Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

Robson M. Di Piero
Crop Science Department, UFSC, P.O. Box 476, ZC 88040-900, Florianopolis, SC, Brazil

Daisy Maria Favero Salvadori
Department of Pathology, TOXICAN, FMB/UNESP, ZC 18618-000 Botucatu, SP

Patricia Lepage Alves de Lima
Department of Pathology, TOXICAN, FMB/UNESP, ZC 18618-000 Botucatu, SP

Lucia Regina Ribeiro
Department of Pathology, TOXICAN, FMB/UNESP, ZC 18618-000 Botucatu, SP

ABSTRACT

The biotechnology, biochemical characterization, and protective effects of the himematsutake and shiitake mushrooms were studied for the Thematic Project, from 1998 to 2003. A new species, Agaricus brasiliensis Wasser et al. (= A. blazei Murrill ss. Heinem.), was proposed for the cultivated lineages in Brazil. Interactions among lineages, substrates, casing layers, and fructification inductions (temperature alternations) significantly increased the productivity of A. brasiliensis in Brazil (from 40 g to 200 g of fresh mushroom kg⁻¹ moist compost). However, pests and diseases (mainly Sciaridae flies and "false truffle"), drastically reduced the productivity of A. brasiliensis (below 50 g kg⁻¹). Biochemically for each mushroom species, the polar extracts, no polars, and medium polarity presented the same organic substances; however, their concentrations differed as a result of the lineages, maturation of the fruit bodies, and cultivation conditions. In this aspect, concentration of linoleic acid in A. brasiliensis (added to animal food) was related directly to the chemical protection against carcinogenic drugs in mice. Aqueous extracts of Lentinus edodes (= Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler) and A. brasiliensis may be preventive chemical protectors against mutagenic and carcinogenic drugs, depending on the lineage and extraction method (tea or juice). However, immunomodulator effects and tumor reduction were only observed with concentrated fractions (hexanic, methanolic, and ATF extracts). Aqueous extracts of A. brasiliensis and L. edodes have antibiotic-like substances and substances able to act as elicitors of resistance responses in some plants (local and systemic) and show a potential to be used in the alternative control of plant pathogens.