Matsutake mushroom yields nearly 10,000 yuan per mu, and straw cultivation is the key
“The Stropharia rugosoannulata I grow with discarded corn straw is no worse in quality at all.” Recently, in the greenhouse of the Stropharia rugosoannulata research and cultivation base of the Yurong Ecological Professional Cooperative in Sheqi County, Henan Province, chairman Wang Zhenquan was organizing workers to pick and box up vivid-colored Stropharia rugosoannulata, one by one.
How to turn straw from waste into treasure has been a topic of much attention in recent years. After nearly several years of research and practice, the Yurong Cooperative has achieved initial success in using corn straw to cultivate and grow Stropharia rugosoannulata. This has not only found a new outlet for discarded straw, but also found a new channel for increasing farmers' income.
Wang Zhenquan said that Stropharia rugosoannulata originally grows at the roots of red pine trees. After extensive research and trials, the cooperative developed a new cultivation method, using corn straw plus soil for cultivation. Introduction trials proved that Stropharia rugosoannulata cultivated and produced with corn straw as the main growing material, supplemented with appropriate auxiliary materials, has large caps, vivid color, tender flesh, and a fresh, delicious taste, with quality no inferior to that of the wild. Moreover, this cultivation model can both recycle and utilize straw in large amounts, protect the ecological environment, and effectively increase farmers' income.
“In Sheqi, our cooperative is still the first to successfully cultivate Stropharia rugosoannulata.” Wang Zhenquan said that using corn straw to grow Stropharia rugosoannulata has low cost and simple procedures, requiring nothing more than fungus bags, straw, humus soil, farmyard manure, and so on. As long as water and temperature are kept under control, five or six flushes can be harvested in 3 months. Moreover, because of its high nutritional value and good taste, selling it is not a problem at all, and it is in short supply in the local market.
“We currently have more than 50 mu of research and cultivation base, with yield per mu reaching 3,000-5,000 jin, and annual economic benefit per mu of 8,000-10,000 yuan. Next, the cooperative plans to promote the cultivation of Stropharia rugosoannulata on 500 mu, which can consume 5 million jin of corn straw annually, so that more farmers can also benefit from it.”
Shen Honghao, our reporter Zhang Peiqi