Due to the nitrogen deficiency in cornmeal, addition
of nitrogen to the basal medium was required for SSF of H. erinaceum. The results (Table 1) showed that during
SSF of 15 days the a-amylase activity of H. erinaceum
had a positive correlation with the supplementary
quantity of soybean meal (r = 0.9983). The higher the
supplementary quantity was, the higher the a-amylase
activity. Consequently, the starch degradation rate was
increased. When 15 g soybean meal was added to 100 g
cornmeal, the degradation rate of starch in the fermentative
product increased from 52% to 62% ( P < 0.01).