Evaluation system of cultivating suitability for the productive strains of Morchella mushrooms.

Morchella mushrooms are edible and medicinal mushrooms appreciated worldwide. Since 2012, the scale of morel artificial cultivation has been increasing year after year in China. However, the instability of morel cultivation has been frustrating morel farming. The industrial instability may be closely related to the imperfection of strain evaluation system of cultivating suitability and the resulted implication of poor quality and unstable spawns in practical cultivation. Compared with most mushrooms belonging to Basidiomycota, the ascomycetes of morels own special characteristics in species diversity, deletion of mating type genes, and rapid strain aging, which put forward special request for systematic detection of relevant characteristics in cultivated strains. Based on long-term fundamental research and practical experiences, an IMV evaluation system of cultivating suitability for productive strains of Morchella mushrooms, including identity recognition, detection of mating types and assay of vitality, was proposed in this paper. The technological necessity and the detailed procedure were sorted out. Given the application of the evaluation system in field cultivation in two seasons, the potential morel productive strains may be scientifically and systematically screened and assessed to confirm the use of suitable strains in cultivation, which will strengthen the stability of morel cultivation, and thus promote the sustainable and stable development of morel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]