Cultivation and nutritional evaluation of Auricularia cornea in stem and leaf substrate of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort.

【Objective】 This study aimed to investigate the agronomic traits of Auricularia auricula cultivated on a substrate made from the stem and leaf of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. and to quantify active components contained in L. chuanxiong and amino acids in the fruiting bodies, which could provide data support for enriching the source of novel cultivation substrate and exploiting the functional components of the fruiting bodies. 【Method】The study partially replaced the wood chips in traditional cultivation materials（control treatment, CK-CX） with stem and leaf powder of L. chuanxiong, designing 4 treatment groups: CX-1（8% proportion）, CX-2（16% proportion）, CX-3（24% proportion） and CX-4（32% proportion）. Statistical analysis were conducted on factors such as fruiting bodies yield and traits. The content of active components in the fruiting bodies was quantitatively determined by ultra high performance liquid chromatography, meanwhile, the contents of amino acids and conventional nutrients in the fruiting bodies were also determined, and the nutritional quality of A. auricula in each treatment was evaluated by principal component analysis. 【Result】 Mycelium growth was gradually weakened with the increase in the proportion of L. chuanxiong stem and leaf powder added. Compared to CK-CX, there were no significant differences in yield of dry fruiting bodies at the first and second harvest for treatments CX-1, CX-2 and CX-3（P＞0.05, the same below）, while the yields for treatment CX-4 was significantly lower（P＜0.05,the same below）. The addition of L. chuanxiong stem and leaf powder greatly increased the content of ferulic acid in the fruiting bodies, with CX-3 showing the highest concentration at 0.0104 mg/g, 20.9% significantly higher than that of CK-CX. The content of ligustilide in the fruiting bodies of the CX-4 treatment significantly increased, increasing by 116.7% compared to CK-CX. There was no significant difference in the content of other active components among the various treatments. Seventeen amino acids were detected in the fruiting bodies from all treatments, with a total amino acid content ranging from 4.139 to 5.404 g/100 g. Aspartic acid（Asp） and glutamic acid（Glu） were found in relatively high amounts. Except for methionine（Met）, cysteine（Cys） and tyrosine（Tyr）, all other amino acid fractions were significantly higher in the CX-3 treatment than in CK-CX. The essential amino acid content in all treatments ranged from 1.515 to 1.880 g/100 g, with CX-2, CX-3 and CX-4 being significantly higher than CK-CX. Principal component analysis revealed that the comprehensive amino acid scores of all the treatments ranked from the highest to the lowest as follows: CX-3 ＞ CX-2 ＞ CX-4 ＞ CK-CX ＞ CX-1. The ash, protein and crude fat contents of each treatment were 1.967-2.167 g/100 g, 5.535-6.260 g/100 g and 0.110-0.240 g/100 g respectively, with CX-3 treatment being the highest, in which ash and crude fat contents were significantly higher than those of CK-CX. 【Conclusion】 The proper proportion of L. chuanxiong stem and leaf powder substrate can be used for cultivating A. cornea. This not only maintains the yield of A. cornea but also enhances the contents of partial active components（ferulic acid, ligustilide） and contents of amino acid nutritional components in fruiting bodies, and the best effect is achieved at 24% proportion.