Evaluation of <i>Tyromyces chioneus</i> Production Using Sawdust Supplemented with Corncobs

<i>Tyromyces chioneus</i> fruiting bodies could potentially be used for food and medicine; however, we still have limited knowledge about their optimal cultivation conditions and nutritional quality. In this study, we cultivated a wild strain of <i>T. chioneus</i> collected from Sandaoguan National Forest Park in Mudanjiang City. We compared the growth and yield of fruiting bodies on a sawdust substrate alone or in combination with corncobs, soybean straw, or corn straw. We also determined the contents of crude protein, crude polysaccharide, dietary fiber, total flavonoids, and other nutrients in the fruiting bodies and the ability of <i>T. chioneus</i> to degrade cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin when grown on a sawdust–corncob substrate. <i>T. chioneus</i> produced two flushes of fruiting bodies on all tested substrates, but the mycelial colonization time, primordial initiation time, and time interval between flushes varied among the substrates, with ranges of 28.00 ± 1.00–30.67 ± 0.58 d, 9.33 ± 0.58–11.67 ± 0.58 d, and 11.33 ± 0.5–13.00 ± 1.00 d, respectively. The sawdust–corncob substrate resulted in a substantially higher biological efficiency (BE) of 35.14 ± 0.93% compared to the previously reported 19.15%, along with the highest yield of 196.80 ± 5.21 g bag⁻¹. The contents of total flavonoids, crude protein, dietary fiber, and calcium of the fruiting bodies produced on the sawdust–corncob substrate were 708 mg 100 g⁻¹, 16.30 g 100 g⁻¹, 18.82 g 100 g⁻¹, and 554 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. The degradation rates of lignin and cellulose in the sawdust–corncob substrate by <i>T. chioneus</i> were 33.93% and 37.72%, respectively. This study suggests that sawdust–corncob could be a promising substrate to cultivate <i>T. chioneus</i>.