LAUSR

Abstract Hericium erinaceus is an edible and medicinal mushroom, which has been traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes and memory disorders. Hericene A (HA) is known as one of the active constituents of H. erinaceus including α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Therefore, research for the development of H. erinaceus with high content of HA was carried out in this study. The effects of culture conditions including agricultural by-products, incubation days and light conditions were investigated. The highest HA production was achieved by agricultural by-products combination of sawdust 42% + cottonseed meal 12% + rice bran 7% + cottonseed hulls 19% + beet 13% with the value of 3.46 mg HA/g dry mushroom. The incubation days for fruiting bodies affected the HA content whereas little effect of mycelia growth periods. In addition, H. erinaceus grown in darkness contained a high amount of HA than those under light conditions. Taken together, the development of H. erinaceus with increased HA content can be achieved by optimization of cultivation conditions.