Fungi Ally |
- Learn About the Kingdom Fungi & Characteristics of a Fungus
- Cordyceps Sinensis vs Militaris: Understanding Cordyceps a Little Better
- Learn Cordyceps Mushroom Growing with Some Guidance Our Research
|
Posted: 15 Apr 2020 01:36 PM PDT
Discover some interesting information on the kingdom fungi so you can better understand the role that fungus and mushrooms play in the ecosystemAll mushrooms are located in the kingdom fungi. There are three factors that characterize a fungus:
Chitin is a complex, rigid molecule which also comprises lobster and insect shells. Most human stomachs cannot digest Chitin. Since chitin is primarily indigestible when mushrooms are consumed raw, a majority of the nutritional benefits are locked away behind this chitin and unavailable. This is not to say one can eat poisonous mushrooms raw safely! Some compounds in the mushroom are available to our human system without breaking the chitin down but most require the degradation of the chitin before consumption. Chitin can be broken down simply by heat in the process of cooking or making tea or by alcohol in the case of making tinctures. The second determining factor of a fungus is their mode of digestion. Fungi are unique from most animals because they do not have stomachs. Fungi secrete enzymes outside of their body, breaking down whatever they are growing in and absorbing the nutrients back into their body. The enzymes that are secreted by fungi are strong compounds that not only break down the food source but also protect the fungus. These enzymes are a cocktail of different antifungals, antibacterials, and probiotics which guide the microbial growth around the mycelial network. Some mushroom species, such as wine cap, require the presence of certain bacteria in order to fruit. The enzymes that are produced can be signals or food sources for certain bacteria to proliferate. One radically different consequence of this method of nutrition is that fungi need to grow on or in their food source. Fungi cannot survive in the mycelial state separate from their food source.  Lastly, fungi are heterotrophic, meaning they rely on an external food source. Fungi are not capable of photosynthesizing. Unlike plants they cannot transform the sun's energy into matter. Fungi are the recyclers, the magicians throughout the cycle of life, that transform death into the possibility of life. Decomposition is not the only ecological role fungi play though. Let’s go through three of the most common ecological roles fungi play. Kingdom Fungi and Ecological RolesTypically there are three ecological roles that fungi may play in an ecosystem: parasitic, mycorrhizal and saprophytic.
 There are some mushroom-forming parasites as well. Honey mushroom, an edible which grows abundantly throughout the U.S., chaga, and cordyceps are all examples of this. One network of honey mushrooms, covering a stretch of forest in Oregon that expands 2000 acres in a continuous mycelial mat has been described as the largest organism in the world. Human perception is typically that parasites are a bad thing, but when the largest organism in the world is a parasite, it gives us something to consider, it must be doing something right.Chaga is currently an extremely popular parasitic mushroom which grows on birch trees. Chaga is thought to have a variety of compounds that positively impact the human immune system. Cordyceps is a parasite not of plants or trees but of insects. Cordyceps attack a living insect larvae or pupae, consume it, and then fruit from the dead body of the insect. Some species of Cordyceps can cross over to being saprophytic allowing humans to produce fruiting bodies without the presence of insects. ( Want to interact with the kingdom fungi by growing your own mushrooms? Check out our online courses and mushroom spawn. The post Learn About the Kingdom Fungi & Characteristics of a Fungus appeared first on Fungi Ally. |
|
Posted: 13 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT
Let's take a look at cordyceps sinensis vs militaris so we can get a better grasp on the world of cordyceps mushrooms and their relationship with humansIn the discussion of cordyceps sinensis vs militaris, let's begin by looking at the concept of saprophytic organisms.Saprophytes are organisms that consume dead material. These fungi are what eat wood, leaves, manure, corpses. These are the fungi that link death to life, that continue the cycle of nutrient flow on earth. Saprophytes are the typical mushroom cultivated by people. It is much easier to provide a mushroom with dead material and ideal conditions for growth and fruiting than doing the same on a living host. Things like logs and sawdust and wheat bran are very easy to store, handle, and manipulate to create favorable conditions for mushroom growth. Cordyceps militaris is a fungus that can be both parasitic and saprophytic making it possible to grow mushroom fruiting bodies even though a living host is not present. Cordyceps sinensis vs militaris: Understanding the primary types of cordyceps mushroomsCordyceps as a common name typically refers to two species of mushroom, but scientifically it refers to a genus with over 400 species of mushrooms in it. This is the challenge with using common names; most of the time they apply to many different mushrooms. The two primary ones that are typically being referred to when people say "cordyceps" is Cordyceps sinensis (renamed in 2007 to be Ophiocordyceps sinensis) and Cordyceps militaris.There is a lot of debate as to whether these two mushrooms have similar amounts of compounds produced in them and if wild compared to cultivated mushrooms vary widely in compounds. Currently, the prices between the two show that one is valued much higher than the other. The craze for wild cordyceps has allowed prices to balloon with a kg in the US being sold at retail prices of $50,000! That is around $22,000 per pound! Now you might understand what this craze for cultivation is about. Amazingly, though, cordyceps militaris grown in China is sold for $16/lb in the US.  This is part of the confusion around the cultivation and consumption of cordyceps; there is confusion as to what is being talked about when using the word cordyceps. Are we talking about the mushroom that sells for $22,000/lb or $16/lb?Wild cordyceps is priced similarly to gold, so the availability of cultivated cordyceps for a relatively affordable price has many people consuming this mushroom. The assumption here is that cordyceps militaris and cordyceps sinensis contain similar compounds and have similar effects in the body. Another factor is the growing popularity of specialty mushrooms in general. More consumers are consuming specialty mushrooms as supplements and looking at them as a source of medicine. Cordyceps has a history of being used and revered for its impacts on the body. Cordyceps is a new mushroom which makes the consumption and cultivation of it exciting. Both growers and consumers that want to be on the cutting edge are exploring this mushroom to become an early adopter. Cordyceps sinensis vs militaris: A look at the historyCordyceps sinensis history: Some other common names for Cordyceps sinensis are: Caterpillar fungus, yartsa gunbu (translated as "winter worm, summer grass") or dōng chóng xià cǎo in Chinese. We will refer to Cordyceps sinensis as Yartsa Gunbu.This mushroom has been collected in the Tibetan plateau for centuries. It has only recently become a huge aspect of the economy in that area. Yartsa Gunbu grows on caterpillars in the shrub lands of the Himalayas. The fungus infects the caterpillars in the fall and over the winter consumes the body. During the spring Yartsa Gunbu puts up a fruiting body, which matures into the summer and sporulates in the late summer. The caterpillars in that region shed their skin and are most susceptible to infection during the late summer. Collectors typically go out in May and June to collect this fungus. The economic value of Yartsa Gunbu since the late 1990's has been soaring. Over the ten years between 1998 and 2008 prices increased by 900%. Between 2008 and 2018, prices again increased by that much for larger specimens of Yartsa Gunbu. On average, the price is continuing to increase by 20% every year! Yartsa Gunbu accounts for almost 40% of the income for families in rural Tibet. This mushroom was first written about in a medicinal document written around 1450 in Tibet. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it first appeared in literature in 1694. The genus of Cordyceps was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, but the introduction of Yartsa Gunbu to a western audience has been very recent, around the early 2000's.  Cordyceps militaris history: Cordyceps militaris has been named and renamed since 1753 until it found its current nomenclature in 1818 in Paris. Cordyceps grows throughout Europe and the United States but is more common east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. It is a parasitic mushroom that consumes insect larvae and pupae primarily of moths and butterflies.Cultivation of this mushroom has been conducted in Asia much longer than in the United States. It seems cultivation started in the late 90's and really exploded in Asia during the early 2000's. Many Youtube videos and training courses around cultivation of the mushroom have been developed in Thailand, China, Vietnam, and South Korea. William Padilla-Brown, who was the technical advisor for this project and Ryan Gates were some of the first to grow fruiting bodies in the US. This was in late 2015 when they discovered a substrate and strain combination that produced fruiting bodies. Since then, strain and substrate trials have been conducted to find a combination that can produce commercially. William Padilla-Brown also offers courses on cordyceps cultivation. Since early 2016, many other farms and growers in the U.S. have developed an interest in cultivating cordyceps. There are several farms looking to develop methods that allow commercial cultivation of cordyceps, but this is still in the beginning stages. These farms sell cordyceps for very high prices to a niche market or further process the mushrooms into a value-added product. Understanding cordyceps sinensis from studiesAccording to the study Traditional uses and medicinal potential of Cordyceps sinensis of Sikkim, "C. Sinensis exhibits very broad biological and pharmacological actions in hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular diseases. It has effects on immunological disorders including cancer. Pharmacological actions of cordyceps are primarily due to bioactive polysaccharides, modified nucleosides, and cyclosporine like metabolites."We hope you better understand the cordyceps sinensis vs militaris comparison now. The post Cordyceps Sinensis vs Militaris: Understanding Cordyceps a Little Better appeared first on Fungi Ally. |
|
Posted: 12 Apr 2020 12:39 PM PDT
Discover tips for cordyceps mushroom growing, including strain recommendations and info for inoculation, incubation, pinning, fruiting, and harvestingCordyceps cultivation is actually an easier method of cultivation than most specialty mushrooms. The difficult parts are finding a strain that will fruit and growing it at a commercial scale.Learn about cordyceps mushroom growing from our trials discussed below. The cordyceps mushroom growing process: Strain and SpawnDuring trials at Fungi Ally, five different strains of cordyceps were cultivated. These five strains were: WPB, 2NB1, RUP, Shanghai, 003 Of these, two did the best, both from commercial strains which came from outside of the United States. Many of the U.S.-based strains are wild clones and have not yet been developed or thoroughly tested to produce high yields. Strains grown in Thailand, China, and India have typically been bred to be fast-growing, high-yielding strains. The strain which fruited most abundantly was a clone from Shanghai. The next highest fruiter was from India. These strains also had the most consistent fruiting with all jars from the Shanghai strain fruiting and all but two of the jars from the RUP strain fruiting. Of 33 jars, the WPB strain had 17 that did not fruit but were well colonized, and strain 2NB1 had 11 jars out of 28 that fully colonized but did not fruit. Calculating the average yield without jars that did not fruit had little to no impact on yield averages. The average yield per jar from the Shanghai strain was 11.6 grams. The mushrooms of this strain were very dense and would be a great culinary mushroom. Shanghai or RUP would definitely be the strains I would work with if growing cordyceps. In Fungi Ally trials, petri plates were expanded directly onto the fruiting media. Several times, we tried to grow 5-pound bags of grain spawn but they did not colonize well. This would be a huge advancement in cordyceps cultivation as spawning rates could be much higher allowing for faster growth and likely higher yields. Liquid culture can be used for cordyceps cultivation as well making the use of a flow hood unnecessary. For more information around liquid culture technique, check out Peter McCoy on Youtube. Check out this article on our website that discussed media preparation and containers to use for cordyceps mushroom growing.
The cordyceps mushroom growing process: Inoculation
Currently, cordyceps spawn is not available through the internet or typical spawn providers. To inoculate, we used wedges from fully grown petri plates. After the bags were cooled overnight, they were moved in front of a flow hood in a positive pressure lab. The flow hood filters all airborne contaminants out so the sterilized media can be safely open and inoculated. Petri plates were cut into 8 pie slices and one slice was placed into each jar. Once the wedge was placed into the jar the top was closed and the jar was moved to incubation. |
l up the entire country over the course of a growing season. Many of these fungi do not create a mushroom but exist simply in the mycelial and spore stages of the fungal life cycle. Many of these fungi have asexual reproduction cycles where they can rapidly create genetically identical spores for further dissemination.
| You are subscribed to email updates from Fungi Ally. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment