Culture conditions for commercial production of Lyophyllum shimeji

Abstract

　An ectomycorrhizal fungus, Lyophyllum shimeji, was cultivated using commercially available culture instruments, and culture conditions for mass production of this mushroom were determined. The results obtained were: (1) Suitable ratio of barley to saw dust as a basal substrate of the medium was 2 : 3 by volume. (2) Addition of inorganic nutrients, especially P and Fe, increased yield of the fruit-body. (3) High yields per volume of the medium were obtained with wide cap bottles filled less than half full with medium. (4) Peat and porous stone (Kanumatsuchi) were good materials for casing at 30-35 days after inoculation. (5) Excellent strains must be selected to cultivate this mushroom commercially, since wild strains showed wide variations in yield and form of the fruit-body. Under the above conditions, 4 strains selected from 60 wild strains produced the average of 123 g/bottle of fresh fruit-body on 650 ml of medium during the average culture period of 81 days.