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Morel Production Related to Soil Microbial Diversity and Evenness

Summary

This research investigated why some morel mushroom farms fail to produce any mushrooms while others succeed. The study found that successful morel production depends on having a balanced and diverse community of microorganisms in the soil, rather than having the soil dominated by just one or two types of microbes. This finding has important implications for sustainable agriculture and mushroom farming. Impacts on everyday life: • Helps farmers improve mushroom cultivation success and economic outcomes • Provides insights for developing more sustainable farming practices • Demonstrates the importance of maintaining healthy soil microbial communities • Could lead to better methods for growing other valuable mushroom species • Highlights how complex ecological relationships affect food production

Background

Black morel is a highly prized ascomycetous mushroom with significant culinary value. While previously uncultivable, it can now be grown routinely in ordinary farmland soils. However, large-scale morel farming sometimes encounters complete nonfructification for unknown reasons, causing severe economic losses to farmers. In spring 2020, many morel farms in the Chengdu-Plain area of China experienced total nonfructification.

Objective

To determine potential ecological factors associated with different morel production outcomes by analyzing soil microbiota and physiochemical characteristics during fructification, comparing 21 affected sites with no fructification versus 11 sites with normal fructification performance.

Results

Soil physiochemical characteristics were not significantly different between productive and nonproductive sites. However, soils with successful fructification had significantly higher diversity in both fungal and bacterial communities compared to nonfructification sites. Morel yield showed positive correlation with α-diversity of fungal communities. The higher diversity was primarily due to community evenness rather than taxonomic richness. Nonfructification sites were typically dominated by high proportions of certain fungal genera, particularly Acremonium or Mortierella.

Conclusion

Morel fructification in large-scale cultivation shows positive correlation with soil microbial community diversity and evenness. Successfully fructifying soils demonstrated significantly higher diversity and evenness compared to nonfructification sites. The increased diversity was primarily contributed by higher community evenness rather than taxonomic richness. Nonfructification sites were characterized by dominance of one or two predominant fungal taxa.
  • Published in:Microbiology Spectrum,
  • Study Type:Field Study,
  • Source: 10.1128/Spectrum.00229-21
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