Sustainable Production of Cordycepin and Adenosine from Cordyceps militaris Using Agro-Industrial Byproducts
Keywords:
agro-industrial byproducts, medicinal mushrooms, sustainability, bioactive compoundsAbstract
Agro-industrial byproducts are abundant, low-cost resources with strong potential for bioconversion into high-value bioactive compounds. This study explored the use of soybean hulls (SB-H), sugarcane bagasse (SC-B), and rice husk (RH-K) as alternative substrates for the cost-effective cultivation of Cordyceps militaris under solid-state fermentation, with jasmine brown rice (JBR) serving as the control. The results indicated that SB-H produced a biomass yield of 3.04 ± 0.06 g dry weight (DW), which was not significantly different from JBR (3.07 ± 0.06 g DW). However, SB-H significantly (p ≤ 0.05) enhanced the production of bioactive compounds, yielding cordycepin at 7.76 ± 0.26 mg/g DW, representing a 22.40% increase over the control, and adenosine at 0.47 ± 0.02 mg/g DW. In addition, cultivation with SB-H reduced the production cost per gram of dry biomass by 7.54%. Analysis of spent mushroom substrates (SMS) revealed high levels of residual compounds, with SB-H containing the highest residual cordycepin content (6.83 ± 0.16 mg/g DW), while SC-B contained the highest residual adenosine content (0.37 ± 0.02 mg/g DW), highlighting their potential for secondary utilization. These findings demonstrate that agro-industrial byproducts, particularly soybean hulls, can serve as sustainable and efficient alternative substrates for the cultivation of C. militaris, offering comparable biomass yield, enhanced bioactive compound production, cost reduction, and support for circular economy practices in medicinal mushroom cultivation.
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