Abstract:[Background] Substrate utilization is an important physiological process in the cultivation of Sparassis latifolia, while little is known about the metabolite differences in the substrates at different developmental stages.[Objective] To identify the differential metabolites in the cultivation substrates of S. latifolia at different developmental stages, explore key metabolites, and provide a theoretical basis for the research on the mechanism of substrate utilization. [Methods] Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was employed to determine the changes of metabolites in the cultivation substrates of mycelium (Myc), primordium (Pri), and fruiting body (FB). Functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment were conducted for the metabolites. The content of phytohormones in S. latifolia was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). [Results] A total of 1 360 metabolites were identified from the substrates of S. latifolia at three different stages. There were 179 common differential metabolites among three different comparison groups (Pri vs. Myc, FB vs. Myc, and FB vs. Pri), and the top 50 most abundant metabolites were mainly amino acids, lipids, pyranic acids, pyranones, and phytohormones. The content of amino acids gradually decreased while that of pyranic acids and pyranones gradually increased with the development of S. latifolia. The content of gibberellins (GAs) was higher in the substrates of Pri and FB, and that of jasmonic acid was higher in the substrate of Myc. GA7 was detected only in Pri, and the content of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid was higher in FB. The differential metabolites were mainly enriched in purine metabolism, sphingolipid, glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways. [Conclusion] Amino acids are key metabolites in the substrate of Myc. pyranoic acids, pyranones, and phytohormones may be involved in the physiological and biochemical regulation of substrate utilization in the Pri and FB stages.