## 3 Results and Discussion
### Fungal Phenolic Compounds--Antioxidant Components Synthesis  
The production of TPC (Figure 3) and TAC (Figure 4) differed considerably depending on the growth medium and species. In the four nutrient substrates, the kinetics of TPC and TAC did not have a specific tendency and fluctuated during the fermentation, in both static and agitated cultures. The TPC\({}_{\text{max}}\) values (expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents per g of dry biomass) were really impressive in the S-20 nutrient medium for all ascomycetes (21.3-32.2 mg/g). The results were also satisfactory in two molasses substrates (9.8-21.2 mg/g), in contrast to the production of TPC in the S-25 medium (5.0-8.4 mg/g) that was considerably reduced, except _M. rotunda_ agitated culture (17.1 mg/g). The wide range of values and inconsistency between the results are attributed to the different species, origins, the environmental conditions, the maturity stage and the extraction method. This phenomenon is also mentioned by many authors in the following studies; [PERSON] et al. [65] determined a fairly high TPC\({}_{\text{max}}\) value in black morel _M. conica_ ethanolic extracts (41.9 ug pyrocatech/mg dw), although in many studies about _M. conica_ methanol extracts by [PERSON] et al. [66], [PERSON] et al. [67], [PERSON] et al. [68], [PERSON] et al. [69], TPC\({}_{\text{max}}\) values (expressed as an amount of gallic acid equivalents per dry biomass) agree with results of the present study in some substrates (4.6 mg/g; 25.38 ug GAE/mg; 20.64 ug/mg; 26.4 or 32.8 ug/mg depending on the origin). In addition, [PERSON] et al. [67] studied the TPC\({}_{\text{max}}\) of yellow morel _M. rotunda_ (16.98 ug/mg), which was significantly lower than the TPC\({}_{\text{max}}\) achieved in nutrient medium S-20 (31.5 mg/g) and relatively close to the values for M-20 and M-25 substrates (16.1 and 20.4 mg/g). Antioxidant activity of methanol extracts was measured as their scavenging capacity to reduce the DPPH\(\bullet\) radical, a stable free radical, which accepts an electron or hydrogen radical to become a stable diamagnetic molecule [70]. Our results showed that in the substrate with the greatest molasses concentration, the highest TAC\({}_{\text{max}}\) values were recorded (expressed as mg of Trolox equivalents per g of dry biomass and %, w/w; 2.7-6.0 mg/g, 47.6-70.6% w/w; M-25, 2.0-2.9 mg/g, 43.6-49.7% w/w; M-20). The opposite was observed in sucrose substrates, where the increase of sucrose concentration did not favor further TAC\({}_{\text{max}}\) production (2.3-6.0 mg/g, 45.5-70.6%; S-20, 2.7-4.4 mg/g, 47.8-59.5%; S-25). Another method for free radical scavenging capacity evaluation uses ABTS\({}^{+}\) as the free radical. In this method, yellow morels in sucrose substrates recorded higher TAC\({}_{\text{max}}\) (expressed as mg of Trolox equivalents per g of dry biomass and %, w/w; \(\sim\)7 mg/g, up to 90%; S-20, 4.3-6.2 mg/g, 61.7-88.0%; S-25). Also, in molasses substrate with ratio C/N = 25, yellow morels achieved satisfactory TAC\({}_{\text{max}}\) values (\(\sim\)6 mg/g, up to 80%). In the other molasses media (M-20), all species presented reduced TAC\({}_{\text{max}}\) values (3.6-4.6 mg/g, 60.7-65.3%). The free radical scavenging activity of _M. conica_ and _M. angusticeps_ was reported 0.9 and 0.7 mg BHA/g in methanol extracts, respectively [66]. In another study, the anti-radical activity of _M. conica_ was determined to 43.8% [68]. [PERSON] et al. [67] reported the scavenging effects of _Mordechla_ species at different concentrations, varying from 4 to 14% at 0.5 mg/mL for _M. deliciosa_ and to 40.6-85.4% at 4.5 mg/mL for _M. conica_. Figure 2: Phenolic compounds removal (%) of two molasses substrates (M-20; C/N = 20, M-25; C/N = 25) during the cultivation of _M. rotunda_, _M. vulgaris_ and _M. conica_ in static and agitated (120 \(\pm\) 5 rpm) cultures. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline _Morchella_ & **Substrate** & **Day** & **Glucose** & **Fructose** & **Mannitol** \\ \hline \hline \multirow{4}{*}{_M.