Cultivation of the edible mushroom Auricularia polytricha using sawdustbased substrate made of three Indonesian commercial plantation species, Falcataria moluccana, Shorea sp., and Tectona grandis

Auricularia polytricha is an edible mushroom, also known as black jelly. In Indonesia, although A. polytricha has been extensively cultured on the wood meal substrates, information is very limited on effects of wood meal from various tree species used for cultivation substrates on A. polytricha cultivation characteristic. An investigation, therefore, is needed to find suitable tree species for the substrate of A. polytricha cultivation. In this study, wood meals of 3 tropical hardwood species (Falcataria moluccana, Shorea sp., and Tectona grandis) from Indonesia were used as basal cultivation substrates. The fastest mycelia growth was found in the substrate made of Shorea sp., and the highest glucosamine content was found in the substrates made of Shorea sp. and F. moluccana. No significant difference in the period of time to the first harvest was found between F. moluccana (23 days) and Shorea sp. (25 days), whereas a significant difference was found in the interval between the following harvesting periods (7 and 10 days for substrates made of F. moluccana and Shorea sp., respectively). Over the entire cultivation period, the substrates made of F. moluccana produced the highest fruiting body yield, greatest biological conversion, and greatest weight loss from the substrate. These results indicate that F. moluccana wood meal is the appropriate basal substrate for A. polytricha cultivation.