Enhanced Biological Efficiency of Indian Strains of the Culinary-Medicinal Lion's Mane Mushroom Hericium erinaceus (Agaricomycetes) for Health-Promoting Antioxidant Activities

The present investigation was carried out to identify a high yielding strain of Hericium erinaceus for its cultivation on locally available substrate, wheat straw and determination of health promoting antioxidant activities from the fruit bodies. The results showed that the yield was found significantly higher in H. erinaceus strain He 04 (88.89 kg/100 kg dry wheat substrate) followed by strain He 05 (47.22 kg/100 kg dry substrate). The polyphenol content in different strains varied from 1.74-5.21 mg GAE/100 g fresh weight with maximum in strain He 04 (5.21 mg GAE/100g fresh wt), however, flavonoid content was in the range of 2.12-4.31 mg quercitin equivalent/g fresh wt with highest in strain He 05 (4.31 mg quercitin equivalent/g fresh wt). The RSA on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) ranged between 21.7 and 43.25% with maximum activity in strain He 05 (43.25%) and 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) scavenging activity ranged between 45.67% and 77.32% with highest in strain He 04 (77.32%). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that strain 4 contained higher total phenolics, ABTS activity, total antioxidant activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) value, total number of fruiting bodies and yield while strain 5 shown with higher flavonoids and DPPH activity. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that studied strains fall into two clusters; cluster I included three strains in two groups, group I included strains 1 and 2 and group II included only strain 3, while cluster II included strains 4 and 5. Out of five H. erinaceous strains studied, strain 4 recorded significantly higher yield as well as antioxidant activities. Commercial mushroom farms may adapt this strain in Indian conditions.