CULTIVATION OF MYCORRHIZAL MUSHROOMS

Several kinds of mycorrhizal mushrooms are now used as food worldwide. Mycorrhizal mushrooms symbiotically associate with host plants and de pend largely on the host plant for their nutrients. The fruit body, th e edible part of fungi, usually does not develop in pure cultures of m ycorrhizal species. Tricholoma matsutake, one of the mycorrhizal speci es, is one of the most favored mushrooms in Japan. Attempts to cultiva te this fungus are the focus of this paper. Several other species are also described.