—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 24,1979
50
New mushroom strains
are rated superior
UNIVERSITY PARK -
New achievements in
mushroom research - sup
porting a Pennsylvania crop
valued at $160,000,000 an
nually - were reported
recently fay scientists of the
Agricultural Experiment
Station at The Pennsylvania
State University.
Current research has
developed nine improved
strains of the cultivated
brown mushrooms
(Agaricus bisporus). The
new strains are rated
superior to the best two
commercial strains of brown
mushrooms, according to
Dr. Daniel J. Royse,
assistant professor of plant
pathology.
The results come from
long-term experiments
which have contributed to
increased yields by Penn
sylvania growers producing
57 per cent of the nation’s
mushroom crop.
“Best estimates indicate a
15 per cent yield increase,”
Dr. Royse claimed. “This
has already resulted in ex
panded commercial
production of about 3 million
pounds” which would “have
a wholesale value of
$2,000,000,” he affirmed.
In production tests of 16
off-white strains, three have
emerged as superior to
presently used commercial
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strains and are now
available to the mushroom
industry, he said. In addition
to total yield, valuable data
was taken on earliness of
growth, pattern of yield,
average size, and surface
features such as scales on
the cap. Off-white
mushrooms are larger and
have a better shelf life on the
fresh market than white
strains, he indicated.
Two major ac
complishments ,on main
tenance of mushroom
cultures evolved from this
project, Dr. Royse said.
First, Penn Staters found
that stock cultures of
commercial mushrooms can
be frozen in liquid nitrogen
and remain stable for at
least five years-compared
to the same culture main
tained by transferring plugs
of fungus tissues to fresh
culture medium every 60
days.
“This could result in
substantial saving of labor
and materials wMe helping
to assure the stablility of
valuable stock cultures used
by the mushrom spawn
making industry of Penn
sylvania,” he stated.
In the second develop
ment, four mushroom
strains-developed at Penn
State and used widely in the
mdustry-were found to lose
2 per cent less weight after
the people that care ...
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processing than present
commercial varieties.
Since about 60 per cent of
the U. S. mushrom crop is
processed, reduction of
shrinkage through genetic
selection can be very
beneficial, it was noted. In
fact, said Dr. Royse, use of
Penn State’s genetic
selection for Pennsylvania’s
220,000,000 pound annual
mushroom crop could mean
a saving of nearly 2,640,000
pounds annually.
As part of the project,
nearly 1,500 different
mushroom strains and
microorganisms associated
with a mushroom crop are
maintained on agar or grain
media with regular tissue
transfer every 60 days. This
collection is the best of its
kind in the country, and
perhaps in the world, Dr.
Royse claimed. More than
3300 culture tubes were
provided over the past four
years to commercial and
research laboratories in
response to specific
requests.
These stock cultures form
the basis for more than half
of all mushrooms produced
commercially in the United
States and Canada, it was
reported, as well as sub
stantial quantities in a dozer
other countries.
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