What are the key points of high-yield cultivation techniques for Polyporus umbellatus?

Polyporus umbellatus, also known by aliases such as pig urine, Hailing, Fengling, Wutao, etc. Its sclerotium is used medicinally and has the effects of promoting diuresis and draining dampness, eliminating phlegm and detoxifying. Clinically it mainly treats nephritis edema, difficult urination, acute urinary tract infection, summer-heat watery diarrhea, strangury with turbid urine, and leukorrhea with reddish and whitish discharge. Its extract, Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide, has a significant anti-cancer effect. The main producing areas include Shaanxi, Yunnan, Gansu, Jilin, Anhui, Shanxi and other provinces.

Morphological characteristics It belongs to the family Polyporaceae, genus Polyporus. The sclerotium is elongated block-shaped or irregularly block-shaped, sometimes ginger-shaped, slightly flattened, with an uneven surface, brown-black or black-brown, with wrinkles and nodular protrusions; the cross-section is white or light brown, semi-lignified, relatively light. The fruiting body grows out from the underground sclerotium, often mostly connate, with the stipe bases connected or multi-branched, forming a cluster of caps, umbrella-shaped or umbrella-like semicircular, reaching a diameter of more than 15 cm. The cap is fleshy, hard and brittle when dry, circular, 1~3 cm wide, umbilicate in the center, with the surface light brown to reddish brown. The context is thin, white, and the tubes are decurrent with the stipe; the pores are angular. Under a microscope, the spores are oval.

I. Growth habits The growth and development of Polyporus umbellatus require Armillaria mellea to provide nutrients. The suitable temperature for mycelial growth is 22~26°C. The suitable soil moisture content is 12~30%. The optimal pH value is 4.5~5.8. For soil, a sandy yellow loam with deep soil layer, loose and fertile, and rich in organic matter is best.

II. Cultivating Armillaria mellea wood and fungus beds

1. Mother culture production

Raw material formula: potato 200 g (peeled), sucrose 20 g, agar 20 g, water 1000 mL. During production, first cut the peeled potato into thin slices, put them into 1000 mL of water, boil for half an hour, then filter out the residue with double-layer gauze. Then put the agar into the filtrate to dissolve. Add sugar and stir evenly. Replenish water to 1000 mL to make the liquid culture medium. While hot, dispense the liquid culture medium into test tubes using a funnel, with the amount filling one quarter of the test tube length, bind the top with double-layer kraft paper, and place into an autoclave for sterilization. After sterilization, take out the test tubes with culture medium and place them slanted while hot, cool and solidify into slant culture medium, then use tissue isolation or spore isolation, and under aseptic conditions inoculate Armillaria mellea tissue or spores onto the culture medium. After cultivation, the Armillaria mellea mother culture is obtained.

2. Stock culture production

The stock culture medium formula is: wheat bran 50%, wheat chaff 20%, sawdust 29%, gypsum powder 1%. Add an appropriate amount of water to the above ingredients, mix evenly, then put into culture bottles. Make a ventilation hole in the center of the material, seal the bottle mouth with cotton plug, and then sterilize. Then inoculate under aseptic conditions and place at room temperature of 22~26°C for about 17 days. When the mycelium covers the culture material, the stock culture is obtained.

3. Cultivation spawn production

The culture medium formula is sawdust 80%, potato juice 20%. During production, first put the sawdust into Erlenmeyer flasks, 10 g per 500 mL flask, then add potato juice into the flask to soak the sawdust thoroughly, then continue adding until the liquid surface is 0.5 cm above the sawdust. Then take oak branches about the thickness of a thumb, cut them into small sections 6~7 cm long, slash the bark into fish-scale shapes with a knife, insert three sections into each flask, so that the branches are half exposed outside the culture material. After sterilization, inoculate the stock culture into the Erlenmeyer flasks under aseptic conditions. Place at 25°C for 1 month. When a large amount of brown-red Armillaria mellea grows on the culture medium and short branches in the Erlenmeyer flasks, the cultivation spawn is obtained.

4. Expanded cultivation of cultivation spawn

Select fresh broadleaf branches with a diameter of less than 3 cm, cut them into 30 cm sections, slash them into fish-scale shapes with a knife, attach the cultivation spawn to the fish-scale cuts, and pile them in a 30 cm deep cellar. Then cover the surface with sawdust and leaves, keep moist, and culture at 20~25°C for about 2 months. After the mycelium has grown all over the branches, they can be used as cultured fungus wood and spawn wood.

5. Cultivating fungus wood and fungus beds

In June~July, select branches about 10 cm in diameter from hard-wooded broadleaf trees such as poplar, willow, mulberry, maple, birch or oak, cut them into 60 cm wood sections, sun-dry for 15 days to bring the moisture content to about 70%. Slash them into rows of fish-scale cuts. Each section has 3~4 rows, reaching deep into the wood. Place them side by side in a cellar, then put fungus branches between two logs, with 2~3 fungus branches per row. Then fill the gaps with broadleaf tree sawdust. In this way, arrange another layer. Cover the top with leaves and add 10 cm thick soil to preserve moisture. After two months of cultivation, Armillaria mellea will have grown well.

III. Cultivating Polyporus umbellatus

In April~June or August~October, open the fungus bed, take out the upper layer of fungus wood, and place it into a previously dug cellar, with a spacing of 10 cm between fungus woods. The lower layer remains in place. Attach small pieces of Polyporus umbellatus to the fish-scale cuts and both ends of the fungus wood, so that the sclerotium spawn is closely combined with the cut surface or mycelium. After inoculation, fill with humus soil. Press gently. Then cover with 10 cm of fine soil, making the top of the cellar turtle-back shaped for drainage, and add leaves to preserve moisture.

IV. Management After planting Polyporus umbellatus, keep the soil in the cellar appropriately moist. Prevent trampling by people and livestock and rodent damage.

V. Harvesting and processing After cultivation, Polyporus umbellatus can only be harvested after 2~3 years. The suitable harvest time is spring and autumn. Clean the dug-out Polyporus umbellatus of soil and rhizomorphs, sun-dry or oven-dry, and then it can be sold as medicine. The dry-to-fresh ratio is 50%. Those with large size, black skin, bright color, and pinkish-white flesh are considered the best quality.