About Mushrooms

The world of mushrooms is rich and diverse. At present, there are about 100,000 of mushroom species vegetating on the Earth. And these are not only pileate fungi, that number up to 10,000, but various microscopic organisms that can be met anywhere from tundra to desert.

Mushrooms are destructors of wood, source of medicinal and biologically active substances, parasites, and pathogenic agents for plants and animals, and delicacy, and the soft white fluff on moist walls, and microscopic molds. Though, the lifetime of most mushrooms is not long, they had existed on the Earth long before the man appeared, which is testified by the imprints of fly fungi found in the earlier geological strata.

The mankind has been trying to domesticate mushrooms for a long time. In the countries of Southeast Asia the wood-attacking fungus Siitake was already cultivated before Christ, i.e. over 2,000 years ago. As early as IV B.C. the "father of botany" Greek scientist Theophrastus described the mushrooms known at that time. Later, in I A.D., Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder tried to classify them into edible fungi and toadstools. The ancient Romans are believed to have had proficient knowledge in mushrooms. In the novel "Satyricon" by Gaius Petronius Arbiter (died in 65 A.D.), in the description of Trimalchio's Feast we can find the following words: "Just only on a recent day he wrote to India that they send the seeds of champignons." Thus, it may be assumed that as early as in the beginning of the Common Era, attempts were made in the Roman Empire to grow champignons. In the 50-ies of the Common Era, the mushrooms were propagated by way of digging them into the ground in places similar to those of their natural vegetation that were later watered. Galen (130-200 A.D.) advised to gather mushrooms only on meadows. In China and Korea people were growing Jew's-ear fungus and Auricularia auricular already in VI A.D. Albert Mangus (1196-1280) wrote the following poetic lines about mushrooms: "this is the breathing of the Earth, that is why they are so fragile and short-lived."

The first place in champignon growing is shared by France and Italy. From the middle of XVII century they were already cultivated in the empty quarries near Paris. The first book about champignons was written in 1600 by a famous French agronomist Olivier. In some time, the champignon culture spread to England, Germany and other European countries, and reached Russia in the second half of XVIII century. In 1778 the "Ekonomicheskiy Magazin" (Economic Shop) magazine published an article by a famous Russian agronomist A.T.Bolotov about cultivation of champignons. The champignon crossed the Atlantic Ocean as well. In the beginning of XX century the Americans were the first in the world to build specialized land-based mushroom houses.

Currently, champignons are grown in 70 countries of the world. At present, of all the diversity of mushroom realm, a bit more than dozen species are cultivated on a commercial scale. The leading position in the global production belongs to white button mushroom; its annual volumes exceed 1.5 million tons. The champignon is followed by such wood-attacking fungi as Siitake (527,000 tons) and oyster mushroom (250,000 tons). Besides the mentioned species, the following are also grown on a commercial scale: volvariella volvacea (200,000 tons), Jew's-ear fungus (120,000 tons), velvet foot (105,000 tons), nameko (30,000 tons), Coprinus comatus, honey fungus and stropharia rugoso-annulata (10,000 tons each). Torq, black truffle, agrocybe, and some other species are grown in insignificant volumes. Presently, the scientific research work is underway to introduce new prospective species of edible fungi into cultivation.

Having specific flavor and odor, mushrooms enjoy the earned fame of delicacy. And they are not only tasty, but also nutritious. Not in vain they are called "the meat of forest". Fresh mushrooms are rich mostly in proteins; however, they are assimilated by a human body only by 40%. Mushrooms contain the following carbohydrates: glucose, mycose - specific mushroom sugar, as well as glycogen - animal starch. Fresh mushrooms also contain a lot of minerals - potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, magnesium, natrium, calcium and chlorine. Nutritional value of mushrooms goes still higher because they contain quite a few different vitamins: provitamin A (carotene), group B vitamins, and ascorbic acid. They also have a lot of calciferol, and vitamin PP as much as in beef liver. Moreover, mushrooms contain enzymes (especially champignons), which favor digestion by accelerating protein, fat and carbohydrate breakdown. Today, the global industrial mushroom production volumes amount to 3 million tons per annum.

Consumption of artificially cultivated mushrooms is seeing a steady growth. This is due to the development of mushroom growing and its transformation into a separate sphere of agriculture on the one hand; on the other hand, this is connected with the annually-increasing mushroom harvest in the areas of natural vegetation and with environmental pollution, as a result of which mushrooms' fruit bodies accumulate salts of heavy metals, radioactive nuclides, etc. and become not only dangerous to health but life-threatening as well.

The increase in consumption of cultivated mushrooms may be traced in its dynamics by considering changes in the consumption per capita of the most widely-cultivated mushroom - champignon. Thus, in the 50-ies, in the countries of Europe and the USA the champignon consumption ranged from 50 to 240 grams per capita per annum, in the 60-ies - from 250 to 600 grams, in the 70-ies - from 560 to 1,000 grams, in the 80-ies - from 1 to 2.5 kilograms, currently, this figure reaches up to 4 kilograms. In Ukraine it does not exceed 100 grams, that is why the issue of artificial cultivation of edible fungi is very topical for our country.