Potential enrichment of medicinal mushrooms with selenium to obtain new dietary supplements

The purpose of this study was to resolve the question of whether various selenium concentrations affect the ability of eight species, members of five genera, to produce mycelium biomass and absorb this trace element during submerged cultivation in Na2SeO3-enriched medium. The obtained results demonstrated the ability of mycelia of all of the tested species to absorb selenium at analyzed concentrations. Thus, selenium content ranged from 1.4 µg g-1 (Pleurotus eryngii) to 20.3 µg g-1 (Pleurotus ostreatus). The potential of mycelia to absorb selenium was significant, ranging from 8.1% (Lenzites betulinus) to 62.5% (P ostreatus) of its content in the medium. It may be concluded that all tested mushroom species could be used as satisfactory selenium sources due to the fact that the absorbed concentrations ranged from 15.8% (P. eryngii) to 36.9% (P. ostreatus) of the dietary selenium amount (55 µg d-1) recommended by the European Scientific Committee on Food.