Sclerotium Rot of Mungbean (Phaseolus radiatus L.) Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in South Korea

Jin-Hyeuk  Kwon1,*   Min-Keun  Kim1    Dong-Wan  Kang1    Inyoung  Han1    Byeong-Jeong  Lee1   Jinwoo  Kim2   

1Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Gyeongsang National University
2Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services

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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