Studies on Growing Edible Fungi on Improved Straw from a Dual Use Rice Cultivar

Every year 500 million tons of rice (Oryza sativa L.) straw are generated worldwide, which was almost equal to the production of rice grain. Most straw is not recovered due to the poor quality, high cost or complicated treatment operations. Through genetic improvements, a rice cultivar '201' was developed with both high nutrient content in straw and high grain yield. The results of 15N tracer experiments showed thatls N of urea could be effectively transformed into straw protein of ' 201' and the recovery rate of 15N in the straw of '201' was 104% higher than that of the check 'TY 63'. The straw protein of '201' could be effectively transformed into mushroom protein and the recovery rate of 15N was 21.7% higher than that of 'TY 63'. Using the straw of ' 201' as material to cultivate straw-based edible fungi, improved the yield and protein content of mushrooms. A total of 7.5 mg·ha-1straw of '201' increased the yield and crude protein of the edible mushroom Volvariella volvacea 797 kg yield and 67.9 kg respectively, and increased the yield and crude protein of the edible mushroom Agaricus blazei Murrill 675 kg and 80 kg respectively. The straw powder of '201' could be used to substitute for the same weight of wheat bran to cultivate lignicolous edible fungi, with no significant difference in terms of mushroom yield or the crude protein content. Straw powder could substitute for 20% of total amount of material to grow Auricularia polytricha, Auricularia auricula, Hypsizygus tessulatus, Lentinula edodes and Hericium erinaceus, 8% of that to grow Agrocybe cylindracea and 7.5% of that to grow Flammulina velutipes respectively.