Shiitake, a new mushroom variety proposed in Mauritius
Paper Presenter & Author:
- Priya Huzar Futty Beejan, Agricultural Research and Extension Unit
Edible mushrooms are gaining in popularity because of their excellent taste, use as ‘health food’ and suitability for different types of cuisine. As a direct result of the increased usage of mushrooms for local consumption and for the tourism sector, the imports of mushroom in Mauritius have reached around MUR 41 million annually. Mushrooms of different varieties are imported both as processed and in fresh/chilled forms. The most commonly imported varieties are the Button mushrooms, the Chinese mushroom (Shiitake), Wood Ear mushrooms etc. The imported mushrooms are supplemented by a local production estimated at 65 to 70 tonnes annually. Till recently, the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sp) was the only species cultivated locally.
In order to diversify the varieties of mushroom cultivated locally, the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit (AREU) have investigated the possibility of cultivating the Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) in Mauritius (Huzar Futty, 2003). Shiitake is a speciality mushroom that had been introduced in Mauritius from Taiwan in order to diversify the mushroom varieties cultivated locally. This mushroom is already present on the local market as it is imported in a major part in the dried form. As such, the Shiitake mushroom being proposed is readily acceptable for the local market. With the expected increase in tourism inflow into the island, the demand for mushroom (both in the fresh and processed forms) is expected to increase.
Different aspects have to be taken into consideration for the cultivation of Shiitake. The latter being generally a temperate species (Chen, 2005) as opposed to the oyster mushroom, a whole package of cultural practices had to be evaluated and fine tuned so as to enable cultivation. The strain was first subcultured and acclimatised to available substrates for the production of mother spawn flasks followed by the spawn production. The bag method showing a definite potential in experiments, was thus adopted for Shiitake cultivation.
The substrate being used actually is maize grains supplemented with lime and sugarcane bagasse. The sterilised medium for Shiitake is inoculated with pure culture and incubated in a cool, darkened room. The Shiitake bags have to attain ‘maturation’ prior to onset of fructification. The fruiting phase is generally triggered by a cold shock. Several studies have demonstrated the use of cold shock, for example, the work of Mata and Savoie, (1998). The cold shock is applied to the Shiitake bags by immersing them in cold water at 12-160C for a period of 4 hours. Cold shock may also be imparted by spraying with chilled water but however the resulting fruiting flush is not uniform as in the case of cold shock by immersion. In order to promote carpophore formation, it was found that maintenance of humidity during fructification was very important. Two types of humidification methods were assessed notably regular misting and, inversion of bags on a layer of humid rocksand. Inversion on rocksand was found promising. A total yield of 100-150 g mushrooms per bag of 0.75 kg can be harvested.
Several growers have started Shiitake production on a small scale from bags purchased at the Mushroom Unit of AREU and few growers have started producing their own Shiitake substrate bags. The scopes and limitations of the cultivation of the proposed mushroom will have to be thoroughly taken into consideration in order to further promote the sustainable cultivation of Shiitake in Mauritius. Research work is ongoing to identify other potential substrates such as sawdust and grasses for its cultivation and to limit the level of contamination arising during the incubation of bags.
Keywords: Shiitake, Lentinus edodes, cultivation, Mauritius
References
1. Chen, A.W. (2005) What is Shiitake?, Shiitake Cultivation: Mushroom Growers’ Handbook 2, Mushworld, Korea, Chapter 1, pg 3-16
2. Huzar Futty, P. (2003) Status of mushroom production and research in Mauritius, Annual Meeting of Agricultural Scientists, pg 75-82
3. Mata, G., Savoie, J-M., (1998) Extracellular enzyme activities in six Lentinula edodes strains during cultivation in wheat straw,World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Volume 14 No. 4