Background:

One of the main challenges in preserving macromycetes germplasm is to maintain the viability of the strains. Some Ganoderma species are sensitive to cold and when kept at room temperature, they age and die within a short period.

Objective:

Evaluate different conditions of conservation of germplasm of Ganoderma species, coming from arid environment to maintain the viability of the strains.

Methods:

Mycelium was grown in wheat seed and placed in the following treatments: mineral oil, lyophilization, -20 and -80 °C. To know the viability of mycelium, after one, six, and 22 months, wheat seeds with mycelium were placed in Petri dishes with malt extract agar (EMA) culture medium and incubated at 25 °C, measuring the time and percentage of strain recovery, as well as its growth rate.

Results and conclusions:

At six months the best performance of all the strains was in mineral oil. After 22 months of storage at -80 °C, 100 % of the evaluated species were recovered, mostly with viability percentages between 70 and 100 %, and growth rate between 5.9 and 12.7 mm d-1.