Similar results have been found in shiitake (L. edodes) growing
on lignocellulosic residues. Gaitán-Hernández et al. (2011)
mentioned that when shiitake grows on lignocellulose substrates,
cellulose degradation is lower than that of lignin. Lignin is continuously
broken down by shiitake during the primordium formation
stage with greater values than that of cellulose. The lignin degradation
capacity of shiitake was different in substrates such as cereal
straw and vineyard prunings, mainly because of differences in the
composition of the primary polymers in the lignin complex. This
probably affected the affinity of the mushrooms’ enzymes for the
substrates. Morais et al. (2000), also pointed out that the activity
of these enzymes depends on the composition of the substrate and
enviromnental condition. The variability in the degradation capacity
of lignocellulosic components in the substrates is influenced not
only by the substrate’s nature, but also by environmental factors
and, most importantly, by genetic factors among species or even
among strains of the same species (Omarini et al., 2009). Although,
in both substrates the mushroom decayed the organic matter similarly,
BE were significantly higher in PS, indicating the fungus can
absorb the nutrients better and produce higher biomass. In this
work we observed that strain selection is relevant to manage high
yields since only one of the three strains assayed produced signifi-
cantly higher BE