Contributed Paper Discovering and Domesticating Wild Tropical Cultivatable Mushrooms

Tropical regions have the potential to be one of the richest sources of cultivatable fungal species. Even though there has been considerable research on the taxonomy and phylogeny of these mushrooms, there has been far less research on their domestication. The purpose of this paper is to review and detail the methods we have used for the discovery and domestication of wild tropical mushrooms. As it is difficult to cultivate mycorrhizal species we have mainly concentrated on saprobic species. Methods include collection, isolation, spawn production and fruiting body production testing in sawdust and compost media. We also discuss a semi-industrial approach of inoculating wild edible mushroom spawn into the natural environment to produce seasonal mushrooms. We have collected and isolated numerous strains of species of wild mushrooms and present initial results on domestication attempts. It is hoped to be able to introduce these to the mushroom growing industry in the future