Milky Mushroom (Calocybe indica) is well known for its nutritional value, longer shelf life and ability to grow in warm and humid climatic conditions. Casing material plays an important role in its fructification and yield determination. The present study explored the impact of the different casing material on the biological efficiency (BE) of the Calocybe indica. A total of six types of casing material treated with thorough formaldehyde, steam and autoclaving were used during the study. The cultivation was done in the poly-ethylene (PE) bag and bed system. Maximum BE was observed in the garden soil+sand (75:25) casing material. However, the BE obtained was at par with all the pasteurization treatment i.e. tunnel pasteurization, autoclaving and formalin treatment. Also formalin treated -Farmyard manure (FYM) + sand (75:25) as casing material resulted at par BE (54.3-56.3%). The lowest BE was observed in the coir pith casing material (32.3%). Seeing recent government restrictions on single use plastics and environmental hazards due to use of polyethylene bags, this study also explored the cultivation of the C. indica in the bed system with two types of casing material prepared through tunnel pasteurization. The significantly similar BE was observed in FYM+ coir pith (80:20) and garden soil+ sand (75:25) casing material in the bed system also. In the treatment where no casing material was used, mass pinning and inability of the fruit body maturation in PE bag system was observed. In bed system, the fruit body matured with curved stipe and low yield obtained (BE-28.5%) in absence of casing.

Pleurotus (Oyster mushroom) is an important cultivated edible mushroom across the world. It has several therapeutic effects as it contains various useful bio-molecules. The cultivation and crop management of these basidiomycete fungi depends on many extrinsic and intrinsic factors such as substrate composition, growing environment, enzymatic properties, and the genetic makeup, etc. Moreover, for efficient crop production, a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental properties viz. intrinsic–extrinsic factors and genotype-environment interaction analysis is required. The present study explores the basidiocarp formation biology in Pleurotus mushroom using an in silico response to the environmental factors and involvement of the major regulatory genes. The predictive model developed in this study indicates involvement of the key regulatory pathways in the pinhead to fruit body development process. Notably, the major regulatory pathways involved in the conversion of mycelium aggregation to pinhead formation and White Collar protein (PoWC1) binding flavin-chromophore (FAD) to activate respiratory enzymes. Overall, cell differentiation and higher expression of respiratory enzymes are the two important steps for basidiocarp formation. PoWC1 and pofst genes were participate in the structural changes process. Besides this, the PoWC1 gene is also involved in the respiratory requirement, while the OLYA6 gene is the triggering point of fruiting. The findings of the present study could be utilized to understand the detailed mechanism associated with the basidiocarp formation and to cultivate mushrooms at a sustainable level.

Calocybe indica, generally referred as milky mushroom, is one of the edible mushroom species suitable for cultivation in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. However, lack of potential high yielding strains has limited its wider adaptability. To overcome this limitation, in this study, the germplasms of C. indica from different geographical regions of India were characterized based on their morphological, molecular and agronomical attributes. Internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS4)-based PCR amplification, sequencing and nucleotide analysis confirmed the identity of all the studied strains as C. indica. Further, evaluation of these strains for morphological and yield parameters led to the identification of eight high yielding strains in comparison to the control (DMRO-302). Moreover, genetic diversity analysis of these thirty-three strains was performed using ten sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers/combinations. The Unweighted Pair-group Method with Arithmetic Averages (UPGMA)-based phylogenetic analysis categorized the thirty-three strains along with the control into three clusters. Cluster I possesses the maximum number of strains. Among the high yielding strains, high antioxidant activity and phenol content was recorded in DMRO-54, while maximum protein content was observed in DMRO-202 and DMRO-299 as compared with the control strain. The outcome of this study will help the mushroom breeders and growers in commercializing C. indica.

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