that Lentinula cultivation in the past was predominantly manual, but that in today’s China mechanisation was necessary to reduce labour costs. She proceeded to give an explanation of a growing system that was developed by her research group. This group has worked on vari- ety selection as well as a growing system. Variety Hu F2 appears to be a high-productive variety that is well-suited to cultivation in a two-phase system. In the first phase, the variety is grown in bottles. After the first flush has been harvested, the substrate is removed from the bottles and pressed into blocks. A second flush can then be grown on these blocks. This method is ideal for mechanisation, carries a low risk of infections and can be carried out on a large scale. The method has been protected through two patents; a Chinese patent (No 201310505047.9) and an international patent (No. PCT/CN2014/083569). Dr Lakhanpal described the history of mapping Agaricales in India. The first lists date from 1825. In the meantime hundreds of varieties spread all over India (including in the Himalaya range) have been identified and recorded. A series of lectures and posters provided more details about this taxonomical study that reveals the wealth of mushrooms present in nature in India, including edible varieties and varieties that can cultivated. In the “Genomics, Genetics and Breeding” session, Anton Sonnenberg sketched the basic principles of breeding mushrooms and indicated that there is much to be learned from the expertise on plant breeding that has already been developed. The neglected status of breed- ing edible mushrooms was underlined by the fact that no further lectures, and just one poster, were dedicated to this subject. In the “Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology and Development” session Professor Martin Hofrichter spoke on the enzymes in fungi that convert the oxygen from peroxides into a large number of substrates, whereby these enzymes are attracting a lot of attention from chemists and biotechnologists.


In the “Waste conversion and utilisation, substrates, casing and crop management” session, John Buswell outlined all the enzymes utilised by mushroom forming fungi to convert substrates into new biomass. Magda Verfaillie from Mycelia gave a lecture on the problems that can encountered when pro- ducing spawn. She treated the audience to a very detailed description with plenty of photographs of the various hygiene related problems that can occur and how to prevent them.


Panel discussion A special session was scheduled for Thursday Photos: Roel Dreve


20 November; “Scientist – Farmer Interface”. The panel of scientists consisted of Magda Verfaillie, Ofer Danai, Dr. Qi Tan, Dr. Verma and Dr. Singh. The subjects of discussion varied from spawn quality, disease pressure, climate control and casing soil to knowledge transfer. Many mushroom growing farms produce their own spawn and were very interested in the maximum storage time for spawn and the optimal storage temperature. Magda Verfaillie explained that this differs per variety, but that as a general rule of thumb the storage time should be kept as short as possible and the temperature as low as possible. Wet bulb seems to be a frequently occurring problem. The Indian scientists advised steaming the casing soil blends used in India at 65oC for five hours. Another recommendation was to ferment bagasse and use that as the basis for making casing soil. Ofer Danai advocated very limited use of crop protection agents, and observing the highest possible levels of hygiene on mushroom production sites. After all, mushrooms are marketed as natural and healthy produce. During this session the Indian scientists encouraged the companies present to engage in greater interaction with the scientific community in India. In turn, the companies asked how the knowledge infra-structure could be improved.


The conference was concluded on Saturday afternoon by a field visit to a seasonal white button farm and the HAIC Agro R&D training centre in Murthal, and a Farewell Dinner (see report on page 36).


Ñ MUSHROOM BUSINESS 11


Johan Baars, Mary Obodai and Anton Sonnenberg pose for the camera during the visit to the HAIC centre (see page 36).


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