[Source: Farmer's Daily]
In recent years, thanks to the improvement of health awareness and the widespread recognition of the nutritional value of edible mushrooms, the consumption of mushrooms in people's daily life has continued to grow. With the progress of science and technology and the demand of the market, the mushroom cultivation industry is also growing and developing. Today, mushrooms have become the "fifth largest crop" after grain, oil, vegetables and fruits. According to the statistics of the China Edible Fungi Association, the total output of mushrooms in the country will reach 42.225 million tons in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 2.14%.
The medium raw materials used in artificial cultivation of mushrooms mainly include sawdust, cottonseed husks, crop straws, etc. The mainland is rich in straw resources, and the cultivation technology of large varieties of mushrooms such as Agaricus bisporus, Oyster mushroom, Straw mushroom, and Agaricus globulus mushroom has been relatively mature, with small investment, short cycle, quick effect, good benefit, and simple and easy to implement. After mushroom harvesting, the waste mushroom can also be used as a high-quality organic fertilizer. The use of straw to grow mushrooms is of great significance in promoting the high-value utilization of straw, realizing the ecological cycle, practicing the concept of big food, and promoting farmers' income.
The continent has a long history of mushroom cultivation. In the 30s of the 20th century, the mainland introduced fungus bricks from France and began to scientifically cultivate edible fungi. In recent years, the edible fungus industry in mainland China has developed rapidly, and more and more edible fungus industries have realized factory production. According to statistics, more than 5 million tons of straw are used in the mainland through mushroom planting, of which 36 companies have reached 30,000 tons of straw utilization annually.
Xiuning County, Anhui Province uses rice and corn straw to plant Bamboo Sun, and adopts the business model of "company + base + farmer" to drive farmers to plant Bamboo Sun, which not only effectively absorbs the surrounding straw resources, drives farmers' employment, optimizes the rural industrial structure, but also improves soil fertility, increases benefits, and promotes rural economic development. According to estimates, one acre of bamboo sunflower can absorb more than 10 acres of crop straw, effectively solve the direct employment problem of more than 200 people around (including poverty alleviation households), the average net income per mu of bamboo sunflower reaches 1.6 ~ 20,000 yuan, and the annual income of surrounding farmers increases by nearly 400,000 yuan. In addition, the plantation also attracts tourists from other places to carry out tourism and parent-child activities every year, bringing tourism income to the surrounding farmers.
Overall, the amount of straw used through mushroom cultivation in the country is still very small. The author believes that there are three main reasons for this. First, compared with sawdust, the fiber structure of straw is generally longer, and the stem skin is tough and not easy to crush; The tissue structure is loose, the fiber content is high, and the lignin content is low. Second, it is easy to tie the bag and form micropores during the bagging process, which causes the probability of bag breaking and miscellaneous bacteria to increase, which directly affects the yield of the bacterial bag. The larger the amount of straw added to the substrate, the more difficult it is to shape the bag, which leads to the serious shrinkage of the mushroom bag in the mushroom production stage, and the separation of the bag material occurs, which ultimately affects the yield and quality. Third, although the mycelium of the straw substrate grows vigorously, the speed of aging is also fast, and the stress resistance of the mycelium will also be reduced. In actual production, it is difficult to predict the timing of mushroom emergence due to the uneven raw materials of straw, so it is more important to grasp the experience of the best mushroom emergence time. Straw cultivation of edible mushrooms is often the first stubble of mushrooms neatly and the yield is concentrated, while the yield of the second stubble is significantly lower than that of conventional sawdust formula, and it is more likely to be infected with miscellaneous fungi after watering.
In 2024, the No. 1 document of the central government proposes to establish a big agriculture concept and a big food concept, and expand food sources through multiple channels. As the country with the longest history of artificial cultivation of edible fungi in the world, the most cultivated species and the most abundant straw resources, the future development prospects of the straw edible fungus industry reflecting the characteristics of high value and efficient utilization of straw are promising.
To this end, it is suggested that the next focus should be on four key points of work. The first is to establish a sound collection, storage and transportation system to ensure the stable supply of straw for edible fungus production raw materials. The second is to solve the problem of disposal of waste edible fungus packets and realize the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The third is to strengthen scientific and technological support and make breakthroughs in core technologies. For different types of edible fungi, a unified straw base material cultivation standard system was studied and established to achieve accurate and controllable cultivation links, break through the key core technologies in the planting of wood rot fungi, increase the amount of straw in the cultivation substrate, and increase the development potential. Strengthen the research and development of processing equipment products such as special grinders, bagging machines and special bags for straw edible fungi. Fourth, through policy, science and technology, talent and industry, we will continue to make concerted efforts to expand the edible fungus industry based on straw utilization, and further play the positive role of the edible fungus industry in rural revitalization.
Author: Pan Junting, researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and post scientist of the National Millet Sorghum Industry Technology System
Co-ordinator: Li Liying, Liu Qian
Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Producer: Wang Yan Editor: Li Yining
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