Preliminary Studies of White Rot Fungi, Brown Rot Fungi and Soft Rot Fungi for Coffee Pulp Degradation

Out of six species of Pleurotus showed wide variation in their linear downward growth and mycelial density. P. flabellatus and P. sajor-caju showed fast growth (linear downward growth 12-13 days). P.florida grew slower than these two and produced moderate (diffuse) biomass (linear downward growth-16days) P. djamor and P.citrinopileatus required 17 and 20 days respectively to colonize coffee pulp and produced sparse biomass. P. eous (linear downward growth 10days) resembled P.chrysosporium in its fast colonization potential and moderate (diffuse) mycelial biomass. The three brown rot fungal isolates viz., Fomes badius, Ganoderma lucidum and Polyporus biformis showed slower colonization of coffee pulp requiring 17-20 days but produced dense mycelial biomass. Among the Pleurotus spp., P. eous and P. flabellatus recorded 21.4% and 28.9% decrease in radial growth respectively on CAmedium compared to their growth on MEAmedium, but they showed a moderate radial growth rate between 9.0 and 12.8 mm/day on CAmedium like Fomes badius ,Aspergillus terreus and Chaetomium globosum. Aspergillus terreus which produced low biomass showed the highest tannin degradation, while the high biomass producer Pleurotus florida caused only less than 10% tannin degradation in coffee pulp.