Key Points of High-Yield Cultivation Techniques and Detailed Planting Management Methods for Polyporus umbellatus

Polyporus umbellatus, also known as Zhuniao, 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 or white discharge. Its extract, Polyporus umbellatus polysaccharide, has significant anticancer effects. 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 and block-shaped or irregularly block-shaped, sometimes ginger-shaped, slightly flattened, with an uneven surface, brown-black or dark brown, with wrinkles and nodular protrusions; the cross-section is white or light brown, semi-lignified, and relatively light. The fruiting body grows from the underground sclerotium, often mostly connate, with the stipe bases connected or multiply branched, forming a cluster of caps, umbrella-shaped or umbrella-like semicircular, reaching more than 15 cm in diameter. 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. The spores are oval under the microscope.

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 requirements, deep, loose, fertile, sandy yellow loam rich in organic matter is best.

II. Cultivating Armillaria mellea Material and Beds

1. Mother culture production: Raw material formula: potato 200 g (peeled), sucrose 20 g, agar 20 g, water 1000 mL. During preparation, first cut the peeled potato into thin slices, put them into 1000 mL of water, boil for half an hour, then filter through double-layer gauze to remove the residue. Then put the agar into the filtrate to dissolve. Add sugar and stir evenly. Add water to make up to 1000 mL to obtain the liquid medium. While hot, dispense the liquid medium into test tubes using a funnel, with the amount being one quarter of the test tube length, wrap the top with double-layer kraft paper, and place in an autoclave for sterilization. After sterilization, take out the test tubes with medium and place them slantwise while hot, cool and solidify into slant medium, then use the tissue isolation method or spore isolation method to inoculate Armillaria mellea tissue or spores onto the medium under sterile conditions, and 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, and put into culture bottles. Make a ventilation hole in the center of the material, seal the bottle mouth with a cotton plug, and then sterilize. Then inoculate under sterile conditions, and place at 22-26°C room temperature for about 17 days. When the mycelium covers the culture material, the stock culture is obtained.

3. Cultivation spawn production: The medium formula is sawdust 80% and potato juice 20%. During preparation, first put the sawdust into an Erlenmeyer flask, 10 g per 500 mL flask, then add the potato juice into the flask to soak the sawdust thoroughly, then continue adding until the liquid level is 0.5 cm above the sawdust. Then take oak branches about the thickness of a thumb, cut them into 6-7 cm long sections, 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 flask under sterile conditions. Place at 25°C for 1 month. When a large amount of brownish-red Armillaria mellea grows on the medium and short branches in the Erlenmeyer flask, the cultivation spawn is obtained.

4. Expanded cultivation of cultivation spawn: Select fresh broadleaf tree branches less than 3 cm in diameter, 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 cultivate at 20-25°C for about 2 months. After the mycelium has grown all over the branches, they can be used as spawn material for cultivating Armillaria mellea material.

5. Cultivating Armillaria mellea material and 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, and sun-dry for 15 days to bring the moisture content to about 70%. Cut them into rows of fish-scale cuts. Each section has 3-4 rows, deep to the wood. Place them side by side in a cellar, then put spawn branches between every two rods, with 2-3 spawn branches per row. Then fill the gaps with broadleaf tree sawdust. Arrange another layer in the same way. 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 Armillaria mellea material, and place it into a previously dug cellar, with 10 cm spacing between the material. The lower layer remains undisturbed. Attach small pieces of Polyporus umbellatus to the fish-scale cuts and both ends of the material, 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 cellar top turtle-back shaped for drainage, and cover with 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 damage by rodents.

V. Harvesting and Processing After cultivation, Polyporus umbellatus can only be harvested after 2-3 years. The suitable harvesting time is spring and autumn. Remove the soil and mycelial cords from the harvested Polyporus umbellatus, dry in the sun 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 superior.