In vitro propagation technique for large scale propagation of Cordyceps militaris- a medicinal mushroom

摘要

Cordyceps militaris is an insect pathogenic fungus with medicinal value. It belongs to ascomycetes group. Cordyceps militarispropagation involves various steps of propagation viz. pure culture, master culture, spawn liquid culture and spawn solid culture. It takes approximately 14 weeks to for complete growth of stroma in vitro. The fruiting body was inoculated on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium for 15 days for mycelial growth (pure culture). Pure cultures were multiplied on PDA for 15 days in dark and 2 days in light (master culture). The fungal cultures were cultured on liquid medium with potato starch and glucose as a main component for 5 to 7 days. The fungal cultures were cultured in a brown ricebased medium at 20°C for 15 days in dark for stromatal induction, and for 55-60 days at 12 hours light for fruiting body formation.