Abstract:

The fruiting bodies of Pleurotus ferulae produced in the media supplemented separately with Ferula songorica
Pall and Ferula sinkiangensis K.M. Shen were analyzed for the contents of protein and 18 amino acids and the chemical
score, amino acid score (AAS), essential amino acid index, nutritional index, biological value and taste-active amino acid
profile were examined. Moreover, the composition of volatile compounds was determined by GC-MS. The results showed
that wild, Ferula songorica Pall cultured, control and Ferula sinkiangensis K.M. Shen Pall cultured fruiting bodies of P.
ferulae contained 17.84, 16.84, 16.37 g/100g and 15.49 g/100g amino acids, had an AAS value of 0.64, 0.60, 0.54 and 0.64,
respectively. The major taste-active amino acids of P. ferulae were Glu and Asp, and Ala, Gly, Phe and Pro had a synergistic
umami effect on flavor formation of P. ferulae. 1-Octen-3-ol was the major aroma in P. ferulae, the relative content of
which was the highest in F. sinkiangensis cultured P. ferulae, followed by F. songorica cultured P. ferulae, wild P. ferulae
and control. Wild P. ferulae had unique flavor for its special volatile substances such as ethyl caprylate, 3-methyl-1,2-
cyclopentanedione, 3-methylbutyric acid and 2-methyl-2-hexanol.

Key words: Pleurotus ferulae, Ferula assafoetida, amino acid score, taste-active amino acids, volatile components