Biotechnological approaches to the cultivation of certain wood-decay fungi

The accumulation of wood-processing waste is a significant environmental challenge due to the heterogenous composition of biomass and the limited economic viability of its recycling. In this regard, biological composting of wood waste using basidiomycetes represent a promising direction. However, the implementation of such methods requires substantial amounts of viable fungal mycelium. In this study, we investigate the kinetics of mycelial growth and biomass accumulation under both stationary and dynamic conditions of submerged cultivation for five fungal strains isolated from decaying wood in Eastern Siberia and used for recycling wood waste: Paecilomyces variotii sp. Irk 52, Phanerochaete chrysosporium Irk 2, Phanerochaete chrysosporium Irk 10, Sporotrichum pulverulentum Irk 1766, and Sporotrichum pulverulentum Irk 1767. Basidiomycete strains exhibited significantly higher radial growth rates on solid agar media than Paecilomyces variotii. In contrast, cultivation in liquid nutrient media produced the opposite trend, likely due to species-specific variations in colony morphology. The evaluation of cultivation conditions identified a glucose–yeast medium and submerged cultivation under dynamic conditions as the most effective approach. Under these conditions, the investigated strains achieved high biomass yields ranging from 6.3 to 8.3 g/L. Growth kinetics, glucose consumption patterns, and culture medium pH dynamics under the selected cultivation regime were examined. During semi-industrial cultivation, the optimal aeration rate and mixing intensity were determined to be 1.0–1.3 L/(L·min) and 0.3–0.5 m/s, respectively. These findings enabled the selection of strain-specific cultivation parameters, thus forming a basis for scaling up the biotechnological production of viable fungal mycelium.

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