Objective  Utilization of spent grape vines as substrate to cultivate edible mushrooms was investigated.

  Method  Seven strains of Coprinus comatus were cultured on 6 differently formulated substrates using dead and pruned branches from grape vines grown on the eastern foothills of Mt. Helan in an experimentation. From 42 designed treatments, bio-efficiency, nutritional conversion, and heavy metal transfer in the mushroom cultivation were compared.

  Result  The bio-efficiency of 16 treatments was greater than 100% with CM6 that grew on the CC900 substrate containing 20% grape branches being the highest. The harvested C. comatus had a significantly higher crude polysaccharide content than control grown on a conventional medium without the added grape branches. Treatments DM4 and CM3 also performed well. The bio-efficiency rendered by the various treatments closely correlated to the ash content of the cultured mushrooms but not significantly to the yield, appearance, flavor, or food safety of the harvests.

  Conclusion  Spent grape branches could not only be utilized to adequately replace the traditional materials for cultivating C. comatus but also improve the yield and nutrition of the mushrooms grown on the substrate.