Earticle

The objective of this study was to determine the anti-diabetic effect of the water extract of Neolentinus lepideus in a diabetic mouse model. Seven-week-old C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice were fed either a control diet (CD) or diet supplemented with 1% or 5% of N. lepideus water extract (NLWE1 or NLWE5) for 10 weeks. Oral administration of NLWE significantly decreased the body weight gain compared to that of CD-fed group. Mice in the NLWE group had significantly lower levels of fasting serum glucose, fatty acids, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared to those in the control group. These effects were accompanied by reduced fatty liver and improved glucose tolerance in the NLWE group. Taken together, these results suggest that N. lepideus might have potential as a dietary supplement to control diabetes.

In order to determine the possibility of artificial cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum, a study was carried out to optimize the medium composition used for bed culture. Sawdust spawn of medium composition for optimal growth was found to be the combination of 75% oak-sawdust, 10% cotton-seed meal, and 15% beet pulp. The optimal conditions for the formation of fruiting bodies were shown to be a temperature of 28–30oC, light intensity of 1,000–1,500 lux, and CO2 concentration of 1%.

The mushroom species Cordyceps militaris has been studied and cultivated as a medicinal mushroom due to its multiple valuable biological and pharmaceutical activities. For breeding new strains of C. militaris, multiplex PCR assays were performed using primers specific for its mating type genes, MAT1-1 and MAT1-2. Mating types and mating status were confirmed, as evidenced by DNA bands at 233-bp and 191-bp for MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 respectively. The novel 'Dowonhongcho 2ho’ was developed through mating; they were found to possess high-quality fruiting bodies when grown in artificial media. The stromata of the new strain were club-shaped, with a bright orange-red color, and measured 7.1 cm in length. They had an average cordycepin content of 0.33%. Compared to 'Dowonhongcho,' the new strain had a 7% higher yield, as well as firm fruiting bodies. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth was 20~25°C, and the optimum temperature for stroma development was 18~22 °C. The fruiting bodies developed after 49.1 days from inoculation. The use of mating type molecular markers improved the breeding efficiency of the new strain 'Dowonhongcho 2ho.’ Thus, they may be valuable for artificial cultivation and industrial-scale production of C. militaris with excellent characteristics.

This study was carried out to develop the technology to manage the growth of mushrooms, which were cultivated based on long-term information obtained from quantified data. In this study, hardware that monitored and controlled the growth environment of the mushroom cultivation house was developed. An algorithm was also developed to grow mushrooms automatically. Environmental management for the growth of mushrooms was carried out using cultivation sites, computers, and smart phones. To manage the environment of the mushroom cultivation house, the environmental management data from farmers cultivating the highest quality mushrooms in Korea were collected and a growth management database was created. On the basis of the database value, the management environment for the test cultivar (hukthali) was controlled at 0.5 °C with 3–7% relative humidity and 10% carbon dioxide concentration. As a result, it was possible to produce mushrooms that were almost similar to those cultivated in farms with the best available technology.

The fruiting bodies of Sanghwang mushrooms, Phellinus linteus HN1009K (PLH) and Phellinus linteus (Korea Sanghwang, PLK), and Phellinus baumii (Jangsu Sangwhang, PB), were extracted with 70% methanol. The methanolic extracts of different concentrations (5–200 μg/ml) showed inhibitory effects of 20–95% on plated aggregation induced by collagen (2.5 ug/ml), ADP (10 uM), and thrombin (0.1 U/ml). The PLH, PLK, and PB extracts (200 ug/ml) reduced ATP release from ADP-activated platelets by 50¬60%. These results suggest that the methanolic extracts from Sanghwang mushrooms inhibit platelet aggregation.

Oyster mushroom is a type of mushroom that is commonly cultivated and consumed in Korea. P. ostreatus ‘Suhan’ is a preferred cultivar for many mushroom farmers because it has a dark pileus and thick stipe. However, as it is very sensitive to environmental conditions, farmers consistently demand an alternative cultivar. To develop a new cultivar, the parental strains KMCC01680 (‘Suhan’) and KMCC00478 (‘Gosol’) were selected from various collected P. ostreatus strains by cultivating genetic resources. P. ostreatus ‘Heuksol’ was developed by the method of Mon-Mon crossing between monokaryotic strains derived from ‘Suhan’ and ‘Gosol’. Thirty strains of 174 crossed strains were initially selected by cultivation experiments. After bulk cultivation tests, ‘Heuksol’ was selected. The nuclear DNA profile of ‘Heuksol’ was similar to those of the parental strains, ‘Suhan’ and ‘Gosol’, when RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) primers and UPF (Universal PCR Fingerprinting) 2, 3, and 4 were used. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth was 30oC for ‘Heuksol’, but medium-high temperatures were also appropriate, especially 13–20oC. The fruiting body production per bottle (1,100 mL) was approximately 140.8 g. When compared to the control strain ‘Suhan’, the thickness of the stipe of ‘Heuksol’ was greater than that of ‘Suhan’ (13.5 mm vs 9.4 mm). The pileus diameter of ‘Heuksol’ was similar to that of ‘Suhan’ and the pileus thickness of ‘Heuksol’ and ‘Suhan’ was 19.7 mm and 21.8 mm, respectively. ‘Heuksol’ had more a productive stipe number than ‘Suhan’ and the pileus of ‘Heuksol’ was dark gray, even at high temperatures. Therefore, it was suggested that this new cultivar, ‘Heuksol’, could provide an alternative to ‘Suhan’ and contribute to the profit of oyster mushroom farms.

The white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, is commercially the fifth most important edible mushroom, accounting for the production of 9,732 tons of mushrooms in Korea in 2015. The genus Agaricus has been known for its potential to degrade lignocellulosic materials. Chemical analyses carried out during the cultivation of A. bisporus indicated that the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fractions were changed preferentially for both vegetative growth and sexual reproduction. We screened A. bisporus strains for effective biodegradation through extracellular enzyme activity using cellulase, xylanase, and ligninolytic enzymes. The enzyme biodegradations were conducted as follows: mycelia of collected strains were incubated in 0.5% CMC-MMP (malt-mops-peptone), 0.5 Xylan-MMP, and 0.5% lignin-MMP media for 14 days. Incubated mycelia were stained with 0.2% trypan blue. Eighteen strains were divided into 8 groups based on different extracellular enzyme activity in MMP media. These strains were then incubated in sterilized compost and compost media for 20 days to identify correlations between mycelial growth in compost media and extracellular enzyme activity. In this study, the coefficient of determination was the highest between mycelial growth in compost media and ligninolytic enzyme activity. It is suggested that comparison with ligninolytic enzyme activity of the tested strains is a simple method of screening for rapid mycelial growth in compost to select good mother strains for the breeding of A. bisporus.

A. bisporus is the fifth most cultivated mushroom in Korea, and approximately 10,757 tons were cultivated in 2015. The genetic diversity of collected strains in Korea and commercial cultivars was analyzed using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. ISSR markers known to be comparable among A. bisporus spp. were selected from various markers. Totally, 16 markers, namely the ISSR markers 807, 808, 810, 811, 834, 835, 836, 841, 842, P3, P8, P17, P22, P30, P38, and P39, were evaluated to discriminate between ASI 1110, 1114, 1115, 1238, 1246, 1365, 1366, and 1369 for selecting suitable markers in 16 markers. The ISSR markers P31, P38 and P39 exhibited various fingerprints that could help classify the strains in species. Using the three markers, genetic relationships among 39 strains, including commercial cultivars, such as SaeA and SaeYeon, were analyzed using the UPGMA method. The results of the analysis of the genetic relationships between commercial cultivars and collected strains in Korea confirmed that the commercial cultivars were different from the collected strains in Korea. These results suggested that the ISSR markers P31, P38, and P30 could be used for selecting the commercial cultivars of A. bisporus.

This study was conducted to investigate the optimum additive ratio of barley flour when used instead of cotton seed meal for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Mycelial growth was the fastest to 11.4 cm in medium containing 5% barley flour and to 9.0 cm in medium containing 30% barley flour. The mycelial density was slightly lower at 5% and 10% of barley powder addition, but there was no significant difference between the other treatments. The yield of the fruiting bodies was 158 g/850 mL, which was highest on treatment with 10% barley flour as a substitute for cotton seed meal. However, this was lower on treatments with only barley flour than in the control (156 g/850 mL). The diameter of the pileus and the hardness of stipes were highest with 10% barley flour and 10% in cotton seed meal, respectively. The L value was highest with 10% added barley flour, but the a-value and the b-value were not significantly different between treatments. The pH of the mixed media before inoculation with Pleurotus ostreatus was 4.7–5.0, and the total nitrogen content was 1.7–2.2, which was slightly lower than that of the control. The total carbon content was 44.6–45.0, which was not significantly different from that of the control. However, the content of trace elements such as Cu and Fe was lower than those of the control.

A self-propelled turner was developed to produce mushroom compost at low costs and high efficiency, and the uniformity of compost produced by an excavator, compost mixer, and self- propelled turner was compared. The material of the compost was mixed with rice straw and chicken manure at a dry weight ratio of 3:1. After the final turning, internal temperature distribution, water content of the compost pile, ash ratio, and uniformity of the compost pile were examined. After the compost was completed, the water content was 69.9 ± 0.54%, 72.1 ± 0.15%, and 74.5 ± 0.82%, respectively. The length of rice straw was 47.5 ± 15.4 cm, 24.9 ± 10.1 cm, and 31.0 ± 10.6 cm, respectively. The ash content in the dry weight of each compost was 25.0 ± 6.2%, 33.6 ± 4.2%, and 28.2 ± 1.1%, respectively. The deviation in the length of rice straw was affected by the linear velocity of the spinner in the compost mixer and the self-propelled turner, which were 21.5 m/sec and 9 m/sec, respectively. As a result, the most uniform mushroom compost was produced by the self-propelled turner.