Evaluation Of Lovastatin And Citrinin Production In An Intergeneric Hybrid Between Monascus Purpureus And Pleurotus Ostreatus

Abstract

Mushroom farming has recently seen a spark in the growth due to hybridization and improved nutritional status of mushrooms. Now a day s many organic farms are investing in the cultivation of hybrid mushrooms. Optimization of industrial mushroom production depends on improving the culture process and breeding new strains with higher yield and productivity. Breeding of new strains for improved quality, early maturity and biological efficiency was a new concept. This study investigate the hybridization among two fungal strains (Pleurotus ostreatus and Monascus purpureus) and assessed the yield attributes in parents and the hybrid of compatible strains. In this study, a breeding approach i.e. an intergeneric hybridization was used for the hybrid production from P.ostreatus and M.purpureus. To find out the resistance and sensitivity of M.purpureus and P.ostreatus, different markers are used. Here, different fungicides are taken as markers: Fluconazole and Clotrimazole. The fluconazole was resistant to M.purpureus, whereas sensitive to P.ostreatus and clotrimazole was sensitive to M.purpures whereas it was resistant to P.ostreatus. From the sensitivity and resistance to the fungicides, the hybrid selection was done, then the protoplast was isolated from M.purpures and P.ostreatus. Sucrose, KCl and Mannitol are the selected osmotic stabilizers for the protoplast isolation and also the mixture of and#946;-Glucuronidase, Glucanex and Macerozyme (mg/ml) was considered as an enzyme source. The average size of the protoplast was obtained from Monascus purpureus (9.55and#956;m) and in Pleurotus ostreatus it was 8.95 and#956;m. newline