Jul 18, 2019 — The logs have a registered import code of “live spawn” and “wood product.” There is no export notation of shipping fresh organic Shitake
https://www.fs.usda.gov/nac/assets/documents/workingtrees/brochures/wta.pdf
copied a Shiitake gene that's key to the mushroom's ability to dissolve wood.
Called Xyn11A, the gene carries the instructions that the mushroom uses to make an enzyme known as xylanase. The researchers want to see if a ramped-up version of the gene could be put to work digesting rice hulls or other harvest leftovers.
If enzymes can do that quickly and efficiently in huge vats, or fermenters, at biorefineries, they could help make ethanol and other products a practical alternative to today’s petroleum-based fuels, for example. That’s according to Charles C. Lee, an ARS research chemist.
Shiitake mushrooms grown on logs can have significantly higher levels of compounds that may improve human immune function than shiitakes grown on commercial substrate.
These mushrooms contain high-molecular-weight polysaccharides (HMWP), which some studies suggest may improve human immune function. Other research indicates that the shiitake compound eritadenine may help lower cholesterol levels.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist David Brauer has been studying shiitake production at the agency's Dale Bumpers Small Farm Research Center, Booneville, Ark. Working in collaboration with producers at the Shiitake Mushroom Center in Shirley, Ark.
A New Year's Eve fire destroyed the Shiitake Mushroom Center in Shirley.
Brauer’s team chipped a selection of spent logs, added urea and green grass cuttings to the chips and then composted the mixture. They found that the nitrogen levels in the resulting compost were comparable to nitrogen levels in other purchased soil amendment materials.
The researchers used the log compost to amend soil in a greenhouse spinach production system and found that the seedlings exhibited greater growth rates than seedlings cultivated in soil that had not been amended. Using recycled log compost provides another way for shiitake mushroom growers to increase their profits.
