We analyzed the effects of replacing part of the wheat flour with Maitake mushroom homogenate on gas production in bread processing. The loaf volume and specific loaf volume of bread that contained 10% Maitake decreased markedly. The addition of Maitake mushroom homogenate to white bread supplied as carbohydrate to the baker's yeast and promoted fermentation under anaerobic conditions. This led to an increase in gas production, resulting in a sharp decline in the volume of dough containing Maitake mushroom homogenate. In an experiment that used flatbottomed tubes, dough with 1% Maitake that had 80% of the sugar of a normal concentration was expanded significantly by incubation at 30℃ for about 4 h; this tendency, was similar to that of standard dough.

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The correlation between the white colored fruit body forming trait and the relative activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and phenol oxidase (PO) in various hybrid strains of Flammulina velutipes was analyzed. The hybrid strains that were produced by mating between two monokaryons that were derived from two white fruit body forming commercial strains primarily produced white fruit bodies. In contrast, most of the hybrids with the monokaryons from the colored commercial strains formed colored ones. This suggests that the white fruit body forming characteristic in hybrids is a genetic trait that is derived from the parental monokaryons. The main factor in regard to the whiteness of the fruit-bodies in the test strains is estimated to be an expression of the high SOD specific activities in the mycelium and fruit bodies of the hybrids. The determination of whiteness in the fruit bodies of the hybrids may be due to the balance of the PO/SOD ratio; the strain that shows lower ratio may produce white fruit bodies, but that showing higher ratios may form colored fruit bodies. This study of the correlation between the SOD activity in the mycelium of the test hybrids with that in the two parental monokaryons suggests that the SOD trait in the parental monokayons is genetically transferred into the hybrid progeny. In addition, the SOD activity in mono- and di-karyons is composed of only one enzyme component, but the PO activity is the resulting expression of several PO components that are composed in a mushroom.

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We have examined the artificial cultivation of a strain of Pleurotus ostreatus designated as W0351. This strain has high productivity and is easy to cultivate because of its rapid growth. Sake lees was an effective spawning substrate for promoting mycelial growth. The time required for spawn running to the first flash was 10 days, and the yield was 12.0g and 34.3% on the moistened media (35g) that contained beech wood sawdust that was supplemented with wheat bran and sake lees.

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[in Japanese]

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