Growth of Chaga Mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) on Betula platyphylla var. japonica

Kang-Hyeon  Ka1,*   Sung-Min  Jeon1    Hyun  Park2    Bong-Hun  Lee3    Sung-Ryul  Ryu4   

1Division of Wood Chemistry and Microbiology, National Institute of Forest Science
2Division of Global Forestry, National Institute of Forest Science
3Goksupyogo
4Department of Variety Examination, Korea Forest Seed and Variety Center

Abstract

Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus), which has invaluable medicinal uses, grows only on living trees. To date, it is still harvested from its natural habitat and is not cultivated artificially. We artificially cultivated chaga mushrooms by inoculating its sawdust spawns on Betula platyphylla var. japonica in 2007, and monitored mushroom growth on the inoculated trees for 9 years. The mushrooms grew less than 1 cm per year, with the largest mushroom growing up to 9 cm in the 9 years of study. There was no difference in the growth (diameter at breast height) of trees with viable and non-viable I. obliquus. In conclusion, artificial cultivation of chaga mushroom was successful. Our findings suggest that selection of large B. platyphylla var. japonica as host tree could lead to better I. obliquus productivity. Further improvements of the method are needed to increase the success rate of I. obliquus inoculation.

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