Lecture 1. Introduction

Introduction to mushroom fungi:
Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of macrofungi. They include both

edible/medicinal and poisonous species. However, originally, the word
“mushroom” was used for the edible members of macrofungi and “toadstools” for
poisonous ones of the “gill” macrofungi. Scientifically the term “toadstool” has no
meaning at all and it has been proposed that the term is dropped altogether in
order to avoid confusion and the terms edible, medicinal and poisonous
mushrooms are used.
Cultivation of several selected mushrooms
 Agaricus bisporus (Champignon, Button mushroom)

 Lentinula edodes (Xiang-gu, Shiitake, Oak mushroom)
 Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom)
 Volvariella volvacea (Patty straw mushroom, Chinese mushroom)
 Agaricus brasiliensis (Royal Sun Agaricus, Himematsutake)
 Ganoderma lucidum (Ling Zhi, Reishi)
1 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

Asst. Prof. Dr. Mustafa R. M. Al-qaisi, Horti. Dept., Fac. Agric., sulaimani Uni., Mushroom Production
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The advantages of mushroom cultivation can be summarized as:
1. Wastes such as cereal straws are largely burnt by the farmers, which causes air
pollution. However, these raw materials can actually be used for the cultivation
of mushrooms. This kind of bioconversion exercise can greatly reduce
environmental pollution.
2. Mushroom cultivation can be a labour intensive activity. Therefore, it will serve
as means of generating employment, particularly for rural women and youths
in order to raise their social status. It will also provide additional work for the
farmers during winter months when the farming schedule is light.
3. It will provide the people with an additional vegetable of high quality, and enrich
the diet with high quality proteins, minerals and vitamins which can be of direct
benefit to the human health and fitness. The extractable bioactive compounds
from medicinal mushrooms would enhance human’s immune systems and
improve their quality of life.
4. Mushroom cultivation is a cash crop. The harvested fruiting bodies can be sold
in local markets for additional family income or exported for an important
source of foreign exchange that will definitely improve the economic standards
of the people.
5. Some warm mushrooms, e.g. Volvariella volvacea (Straw mushrooms) and

Pleurotus sajor-caju (Oyster mushrooms) are relatively fast growing organisms
and can be harvested in 3 to 4 weeks after spawning. It is a short return
agricultural business and can be of immediate benefit to the community.
Definition of a Mushroom
Mushrooms with other fungi are something special in the living world, being
neither plants nor animals. They have been placed in a kingdom of their own called
the kingdom of Myceteae (Fungi Kingdom). But what are mushrooms? The word
mushroom may mean different things to different people an countries. It has
emerged that specialised studies and the economic value of mushrooms and their
products had reached a point where a clear definition of the term “mushroom”
was warranted. In a broad sense “Mushroom is a macrofungus with a distinctive
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fruiting body, which can be either epigeous or hypogeous and large enough to be
seen with naked eye and to be picked by hand”. Thus, mushrooms need not be
basidiomycetes, nor aerial, nor fleshy, nor edible. Mushrooms can be
ascomycetes, grow underground, have a non-fleshy texture and need not be
edible. This definition is not a perfect one but can be accepted as a workable term
to estimate the number of mushrooms on the earth. The most common type of
mushrooms is umbrella shaped with a pileus (cap) and a stipe (stem) i.e. Lentinula
edodes. Other species additionally have a volva (cup) i.e. Volvariella volvacea or
an annulus (ring) i.e. Agaricus campestris or with both of them i.e. Amanita
muscaria. Furthermore, some mushrooms are in the form of pliable cups; others
round like golf balls. Some are in the shape of small clubs; some resemble coral;
others are yellow or orange jelly-like globs; and some even very much resembles
the human ear. In fact, there is a countless variety of forms. The structure that we
call a mushroom is in reality only the fruiting body of the fungus.
Stalk (Stem)

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The vegetative part of the fungus, called the mycelium, comprises a system of
branching threads and cord-like strands that branch out through soil, compost,
wood log or other lignocellulosic material on which the fungus may be growing.
After a period of growth and under favourable conditions, the established
(matured) mycelium could produce the fruit structure which we call the
mushroom. Accordingly mushrooms can be grouped into four categories:
(1) those which are fleshy and edible fall into the edible mushroom category, e.g.,
Agaricus bisporus;
(2) mushrooms which are considered to have medicinal applications, are referred
to as medicinal mushrooms, e.g., Ganoderma lucidum;
(3) those which are proven to be, or suspected of being poisonous are named as
poisonous mushrooms, e.g., Amanita phalloides; and
(4) a miscellaneous category which includes a large number of mushrooms whose
properties remain less well defined, which may tentatively be grouped
together as ‘other mushrooms’. Certainly, this approach of classifying of
mushrooms is not absolute and not mutually exclusive. Many kinds of
mushrooms are not only edible, but also possess tonic and medicinal qualities.
Mushrooms are devoid of leaves, and of chlorophyll-containing tissues. This
renders them incapable of photosynthetic food production. Yet, they grow, and
they produce new biomass. How? For their survival, for their growth, and for their
metabolism, they rely on organic matter synthesized by the green plants around
us, including organic products contained in agricultural crop residues. The organic
materials, on which mushrooms derive their nutrition, are referred to as substrates.
Mushrooms are a unique biota which assembles their food by secreting degrading
enzymes and decompose the complex food materials present in the biomass where
they grow, to generate simpler compounds, which they then absorb, and transform
into their own peculiar tissues. These substrate materials are usually by-products
from industry, households and agriculture and are usually considered as wastes.
And these wastes, if carelessly disposed of in the surrounding environment by
dumping or burning, will lead to environmental pollution and consequently cause
health hazards.
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However, they are actually resources in the wrong place at a particular time
and mushroom cultivation can harness this waste/resource for its own beneficial
advantage. Mushrooms lack true roots. How then are they anchored into the
substrates where we find them? This is affected by their tightly interwoven thread-
like hyphae, which also colonies the substrates, degrade their biochemical
components, and siphon away the hydrolysed organic compounds for their own
nutrition.

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Scientific Classification of Mushrooms,

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Example:
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Agaricaceae
Genus: Agaricus

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Ecological Classification of Mushrooms Ecologically,
Mushrooms can be classified into three groups: the saprophytes, the
parasites and the symbiotic (which include mycorrhizal) species (Fig. 1). There are
only a few parasitic mushrooms. Most of the cultivated gourmet mushrooms are
saprophytic fungi. Some of the edible mushrooms are mycorrhizal species, e.g.
Perigold black truffle, Tuber melanosporum, and matsutake mushroom, Tricholoma
matsutake. It is difficult to bring these highly celebrated wild gourmet species into
cultivation because they are mycorrhizal. These species have a symbiotic
relationship with some vegetation, particularly trees, i.e. there is a relationship of
mutual need. 11 Saprophytes obtain nutrients from dead organic materials;
parasites derive food substances from living plants and animals and causing harm
to the hosts; and mycorrhiza live in a close physiological association with host
plants and animals – thereby forming a special partnership where each partner
enjoys some vital benefits from the other. However, some mushrooms do not fall
neatly within these man-made categories and can share two of these categories.
For example, some Ganoderma spp. including G. lucidum are common saprophytes,
however they can be pathogenic too; also Tricholoma matsutake, while initially
appearing to be mycorrhizal on young roots, soon becomes pathogenic and finally
exhibits some saprobic ability.

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The improvement of the technology for mushroom production of the existing
cultivated mushroom species and exploration of the cultivation technology for
new mushroom species have been done mainly by researchers and experts of
mushroom growers. The scientific analyses for each process of mushroom
production have been mostly conducted by the cultures grown on agar media and
those grown in liquid media. Many physiological, biochemical, and genetic
experiments for vegetative growth and fruit body formation and development of
mushrooms have been progressed by several model mushroom species such as a
coprophilous fungus Coprinopsis cinerea (syn.: Coprinus cinereus), wood rotting
fungi Schizophyllum commune and Polyporus arcularius (syn.: Favolus arcularius),
and a facultative ectomycorrhizal fungus Hebeloma vinosophyllum, etc. as well as
by easy fruiting isolates of the cultivated mushroom species such as wood rotting
fungi Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and Winter Mushroom [Enokitake;
Flammulina velutipes (syn.: Collybia velutipes)]. They are easy to fruit on nutrient
agar media and in nutrient liquid media which are more suitable for physiological,
biochemical, and genetic researches in mushroom morphogenesis.

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Mushroom Species
In 1990, the number of known species of fungi was about 69,000 (Hawksworth,
1991) while it was conservatively estimated that 1.5 million species of fungi
actually existed (Table 1). On average 700 species were described as new to
science each year from 1920 to 1950. However, the annual total catalogued fungi
reached around 1,400 in 1961, 1,500 in 1968 and averaged 1,700 each year for
1986 to 1990. Fungi are regarded as being the second largest group of organisms
in the biosphere after the insects. Known fungal species constitute only about 5%
of their species in the world. Thus, the large majority of fungi are still unknown.
Out of about 70,000 described species of fungi, it has been suggested that around
14,000-15,000 species produce fruiting bodies of sufficient size and Saprobe
Pathogen Mycorrhizal Cantharellus cibarius Tricholoma matsutake; Tubur
melanosporum Ganoderma species including G. lucidum 12 suitable structure to
be considered as macrofungi (mushrooms). Of these, about 5,000 of the species
are considered to possess varying degrees of edibility, and more than 2,000
species from 31 genera are regarded as prime edible mushrooms. But only 100 of
them are experimentally grown, 50 economically cultivated, around 30
commercially cultivated, and only about 6 to have reached an industrial scale of
production in many countries. Furthermore, about 1,800 are medicinal ones. The
number of poisonous mushrooms is relatively small (approximately 10%), of these
some 30 species are considered to be lethal (Miles and Chang, 1997).

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The Concept of Mushroom Biology
The biological science that is concerned with fungi is call mycology. Mushroom
biology is the branch of mycology that deals with mushrooms in many disciplines.
When knowledge increases and areas of specialization develop within the
discipline, it is convenient to indicate that area of specialization with a self-
explanatory name. In biology, there are such specializations as neurobiology,
bacteriology, plant pathology, pomology, molecular biology, virology, fungal
These names indicate either a group of organisms (e.g., bacteria, algae, and
insects) and /or an approach to the study (e.g., disease, development and
physiology). Although several terms for this important branch of mycology that
deals with mushroom have been used, and each of these has its merit, when we
get down to the matter of definitions, it seems that there is a place for a new term.
The new term is mushroom biology. Mushroom biology is a new discipline
concerned with any aspect of the scientific study of mushrooms, such as:
taxonomy; physiology; genetics; etc.

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Applied Mushroom Biology
Applied mushroom biology is concerned with all aspects of the application of
mushroom biology. It consists of three main components: mushroom science;
mushroom biotechnology; and mushroom mycorestoration (Fig. 2). As previously
outlined, mushroom biology is concerned with any aspect of the scientific study of
mushrooms, therefore it will feature in each of the three components of applied
mushroom biology.
Mushroom science deals with mushroom cultivation and production

(mushrooms themselves) and encompasses the principles of mushroom
biology/microbiology, bioconversion/composting technology and environmental
technology (Fig. 3).

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Mushroom biotechnology is concerned with mushroom products
(mushroom derivatives) and encompasses the principles of mushroom
biology/microbiology, fermentation technology and bioprocess (Fig. 4). Mushroom
biotechnology, both as a technology and as the basis for new mushroom products,
requires industrial development. It, like many bioscience industries, operates at the
cutting edge of science and involves numerous regulatory issues.

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The third component of applied mushroom biology has been developed in
recent years. This is mushroom bioremediation which is concerned with the
beneficial impacts of mushrooms on the environment (from mushroom mycelia)
and encompasses principles of mushroom biology/microbiology, ecology and
bioremediation technology (Fig. 5).

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Lecture 1. Introduction

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Lecture 1. Introduction

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Introduction to mushroom fungi:

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of macrofungi. They include both

 Agaricus bisporus (Champignon, Button mushroom)

1 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

5. Some warm mushrooms, e.g. Volvariella volvacea (Straw mushrooms) and

3 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

5 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

6 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

11 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

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Mushroom science deals with mushroom cultivation and production

19 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

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21 Mushroom Production: Lecture 1

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