Cultivated and Wild species of Mushroom in Nepal

Introduction

The edible, fleshy and macroscopic basidiocarpous or ascocarpous spore bearing fungus of certain species are designated as a term ‘Mushroom’. There is a difference between the term mushroom and toad stools that ‘Toad Stool’ signifies poisonous and/or inedible species of fungi.

Mushroom is a fleshy and spore bearing nutritive organ(fruiting body) of certain fungi that belongs to a group of organisms which differ in many respects from flowering plants and animals.

Cultivated edible mushrooms may be defined as “ Muhsrooms are achlorophyllous, macroscopic basidiomycetous or ascomycetous species of certain fungi that bear spores embedded into fleshy fruiting bodies and are desirable as food in the market place. These can be cultivated either in properly designed mushroom houses under precisely controlled conditions or in outdoor areas under conditions manipulated by man to enhance their production in quantity with desirable quality”.

Mushroom is a saprophytic plant which feeds on dead and decaying organic matters. These are cosmopolitan in natural occurrence. Most of the mushrooms are wild, yet considerable species are cultivated worldwide. About 38,000 species of mushrooms are known in the world, out of which around 2,000 species are edible, more than 1,000 2 Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 2, No.1 (December 2013) species are poisonous (Chang, et al, 1995).

Some of the major cultivated and wild mushroom species found over the different regions of Nepal are as given below:

Cultivated Mushrooms Species

1. Shitake Mushroom (सिताके च्याउ )

Botanical Name: Lentinula edodes

Family: Marasmiaceae

Fig. 01: The Shiitake Mushroom

Shiitake mushrooms (pronounced shee ta’ kay) are a traditional delicacy in Japan, Korea, and China. For at least a thousand years, Shiitake mushrooms have been grown on logs, outdoors, in the temperate mountainous regions of Asia. To this day, Shiitakes figure as the most popular of all the gourmet mushrooms. Only in the past several decades have techniques evolved for its rapid cycle cultivation indoors, on supplemented, heat-treated, sawdust-based substrates. Log culture, although traditional in Asia, has yet to become highly profitable in North America—despite the hopes of many woodlot owners. However, log culture does generate modest supplementary income and fits well within the emerging concept of mycopermaculture. In contrast, indoor cultivation on sterilized sawdust-based substrates is proving to be highly profitable for those who perfect the technique. Most successful American growers have adapted the methods originating in Asia for the cultivation of this mushroom on sterilized substrates by doubling or tripling the mass of each fruiting block and by “through-spawning.” The Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Thai production systems typically utilize cylindrically shaped bags filled with 1 kilogram of supplemented sawdust that are top-inoculated. This method gives a maximum of two flushes whereas the more massive blocks (2–3 kilograms apiece) provide four or five flushes before expiring.

2. Oyster Mushroom (कन्ये च्याउ )

Botanical Name: Pleurotus spp.

Family: Pleurotaceae

There are different species of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp.) found all around Nepal. Some of the common oyster mushroom cultivated are Yellow, King, Pink, White oyster etc.

i. King Oyster (राजा कन्ये )

Fig. 02: The King Oyster Mushroom

Pleurotus eryngii is by far the best-tasting Oyster mushroom, well deserving of the title, the King Oyster. Popular in Europe, this stout, thickly flesh mushroom, is one of the largest species in the genus. Preferring hardwoods, this mushroom is easy to grow. Although this mushroom grows on the cereal (wheat) straws, the yields are not as substantial as that of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus pulmonarius on this same material, at the same rate of spawning, unless supplements are added or a unique spawning method is employed.

ii. Pink Oyster (गुलावी कन्ये )

Fig. 03: The Pink Oyster Mushroom

This species encompasses a complex of brilliantly pink Oyster mushrooms. The Pink Oyster varieties are the most common occurring wild Pleurotus in pan-tropical climatic zones of the world. Known for its speed to fruiting, adaptive ability to flourish on a wide variety of base materials, and high temperature tolerance,  this species is so aggressive as to colonize unpasteurized bulk substrates before competitors can flourish. When growing this mushroom en masse, clusters often form lacking any pink pigment, although usually these forms are in the minority.





Common Names: 

The Pink Oyster Mushroom,

The Salmon Oyster Mushroom, 

The Strawberry Oyster,

The Flamingo Mushroom,

Takiiro Hiratake (Japanese),

Tabang Ngungut (Dasun-Northern Borneo)

iii. Golden/Yellow Oyster (पहेंलो कन्ये )

Fig. 04: The Golden/Yellow Oyster Mushroom

Caps golden to bright yellow, 2–5 cm, convex to plane at maturity, often depressed in the center, thin fleshed, with decurrent gills that show through the partially translucent cap flesh. Stems white, centrally attached to the caps. Usually growing in large clusters arising from a single, joined base. Clusters are often composed of fifty to one hundred or more mushrooms. As strains of this species senesce, the yellow cap color is lost, becoming beige, and fewer mushrooms are produced in each primordial cluster.

3. Paddy Straw Mushroom (पराले च्याउ )

Botanical Name: Volveriella volvacea

Family: Pluteaceae

Fig. 05: The Paddy Straw Mushroom

Prodigiously fast growing and one of people’s favorite mushrooms for the table, this mushroom thrives at warm temperatures (between 75–95°F or 24–35°C) and dies when temperatures drop below 45°F (7°C). This temperature range limits its cultivation in all but the warmest climates or months of the year. In subtropical and tropical Asia, many farmers rely on the cultivation of V. volvacea as a secondary source of income, making use of waste rice straw and cottonseed hulls. This mushroom has become an economic mainstay in the agricultural economies of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China.
Two methods have evolved for its cultivation. The first method is outdoors, simple, and low-tech, owing its success to the rapidity of V. volvacea’s life cycle. The second method has been developed for intensive, indoor commercial cultivation, more closely resembling the composting procedures practiced by the Agaricus industry in the promotion of Actinomyces colonies, except that manure is not employed.

Fig. 06: The Milky Mushroom

4. Milky Mushroom( दुधे च्याउ )

Botanical Name: Calocybe indica

Family: Lyophyllaceae

Calocybe indica, commonly known as the milky white mushroom, is a species of edible mushroom native to India. The sturdy all-white mushrooms appear in summer after rainfall in fields and on road verges. Traditionally eaten in West Bengal, it is being grown commercially in several Indian states and other tropical countries.

5. Gobre/White Button (गोब्रे च्याउ )

Fig. 07: The Gobre/White Mushroom

Botanical Name: Agaricus bisporus

Family: Agaricaceae

Agaricus bisporus is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Europe and North America. It has two color states while immature—white and brown—both of which have various names. In recent years, growers found that if they allowed the fruiting body to grow far beyond the normal size with the cap spreading to expose all the gills.

Wild Mushroom Species

Although of various cultivated mushroom species there are a lots of wild as well as poisonous mushroom species found all across Nepal. Some of those species are as mentioned below:

1. Stump Puffball (पुट्पुरे च्याउ )

Botanical Name: Lycoperdon pyriforme

Family: Agaricaceae

Fig. 08: The Stump Puffball Mushroom

Commonly it is known as the pear-shaped puffball or stump puffball, is a saprobic fungus present throughout much of the world. Emerging in autumn, this puffball is common and abundant on decaying logs of both deciduous and coniferous wood. It is considered a choice edible when still immature and the inner flesh is white.

The fruit body of the pear-shaped puffball measures 1.5 to 4.5 cm in width by 2 to 4.5 cm in height. They are often pear-shaped as the name suggests, but they may also be nearly spherical. When very young they are covered in small white spines that typically fall off before maturity. A small developing pore may be visible at the top, while the sterile base of the mushroom is small and appears as pinched in. Color ranges from nearly white to yellowish brown with the darker shades developing with age. The central pore ruptures at late maturity to allow the wind and rain to disperse the spores. The base is attached to the wood by means of rhizomorphs (thick, cord-like strands of mycelium).

2. Morels (घुच्ची च्याउ )

Fig. 09: The Morels

Botanical Name: Morchella spp.

Family: Morchllaceae

In Nepal it is called GuchhiChyaau. Three species of morels are found in Nepal. They are: Morchella esculenta, M conica, M smithiana. They are found in mid-western hills of jumla and humla district. They are seen in high organic manure, high soil moisture and in Pinusalnus forest and even in apple orchards.

3. Lingzhi Mushroom

Biological Name: Ganoderma lucidum

Family: Ganodermataceae

Fig. 10: The Lingzhi Mushroom

 generally occurs in two growth forms, one, found in North America, is sessile and rather large with only a small or no stalk, while the other is smaller and has a long, narrow stalk, and is found mainly in the tropics. However, many growth forms exist that are intermediate to the two types, or even exhibit very unusual morphologies, raising the possibility that they are separate species. Environmental conditions also play a substantial role in the different morphological characteristics Lingzhi can exhibit. For example, elevated carbon dioxide levels result in stem elongation in Lingzhi. Other forms show antlers, without a cap and these may be affected by carbon dioxide levels as well. The species can also be differentiated by their colors in which the red reishi is the most researched kind.

References

• Tirpathi D.P. Mushroom Cultivation, Oxford and IBH Publication Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi . ISBN: 8120416449, 2017,
• Chang T. S. (1995). Edible mushrooms and their cultivation. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press
• Stamets P. Growing gourmet and medicinal mushroom, Ten Speed Press (2000) , eISBN: 978-1-60774-138-1, 2000,