Morels’ Vegetative Compatibility And Their Field Cultivations

The fungi Morchella spp.are famous for edible and medical value.At present,the main species of cultivated morels in the field involve M.importuna,M.sextelata and M.eximia.However,large-scale commercial cultivation of morels often suffers from genetic degradation,yield instability and other problems.Therein,we conducted the morels cultivars selection and breeding by antioxidant activity determination,vegetative compatibility test and field planting tests,and obtained the results as following.1.The results of antioxidant activity detection showed that with the extension of fermentation time,the activities of superoxide dismutase（SOD）were generally down-regulated in general,and the SOD enzyme activity of strain QL-Y25 was significantly higher than other strains.The activities of peroxidase（POD）were generally up-regulated,and the POD enzyme activities of strains QL-Y-B and QL-Y28 were significantly higher than other strains from the 5^th day.The catalase（CAT）activities were relatively stable on the whole,and the CAT enzyme activity of strain QL-Y27 was higher than other strains,reaching the highest value of 83.44±2.83 U/m L on the 7^th day.The content of polysaccharide showed a relatively up-regulated trend,among which strain QL-Y29 had the highest polysaccharide content of33.52±0.48 mg/m L on the 7^th day.The content of total phenol showed a downward trend followed by an upward trend,among which strain QL-Y29 had the highest total phenol content of 34.76±0.76 mg/m L on the 9^th day.Except for strains QL-Y25 and QL-Y26,the total antioxidant activity of the other strains was up-regulated,and the strains QL-Y28 and QL-Y29had higher total antioxidant activity than other strains from the 3^rd day.The scavenging rates of three free radicals were relatively up-regulated with the increasing time,among which the scavenging rates of 1,1-diphenyl-2-nitrophenyl hydrazide（DPPH）and hydroxyl radical（-OH）radicals of strain QL-Y-B,as well as the scavenging rate of superoxide anion(O^2-)radical of strain QL-Y27 were significantly different from other strains on the 9^th day,reaching the highest percentages of 87.76%,95%and 89%,respectively.2.The results of the vegetative compatibility test showed that 18 nitrate-nonutilizing mutants of six types,including nit2,nit3,nit6,nit7,nit11 and nit15,were screened from 13tested strains,among which type nit2 and type nit3 accounted for more than 90%.Determination of the vegetative compatibility groups on 18 mutant strains showed that all the strains except QL-Y30 were classified into six vegetative compatibility groups（VCGs）.Strains QL-Y32 and QL-Y35 were classified into VCG1,strains QL-Y33 and QL-Y35 were classified into VCG2,strains QL-Y29 and QL-Y31 were classified into VCG3,strains QL-Y25,QL-Y31 and QL-Y34 were classified into VCG4,strains QL-Y06 and QL-Y28 were classified into VCG5,strains QL-Y-B,QL-Y26,QL-Y27 and QL-Y28 were classified into VCG6.3.The indoor growth results of parent strains and cultivars showed that the growth rates of parent strains QL-Y25,QL-Y27,QL-Y28 and QL-Y35 reached more than 18 mm/d;the growth rates of cultivars QL-Y25,QL-Y27,QL-Y28,QL-Y33 and QL-Y35 reached more than10 mm/d.Field cultivation experiments showed that strains QL-Y25,QL-Y27,QL-Y28,QL-Y29,QL-Y33 and QL-Y35 produced fruitbodies normally.The results of single fruitbody traits showed that the stalk length of strain QL-Y27 was significantly different from other strains,which was 60.02±9.69 mm;the cap length and width were significantly different from strains QL-Y25,QL-Y29 and QL-Y35;the stalk width of strain QL-Y28 reached 30.64±9.13mm;the fresh weight of strain QL-Y25 was significantly different from other strains,which was 21.40±6.76 g.Conclusion:The main cultivars of black morels QL-Y27,QL-Y28,QL-Y29 and yellow morel QL-Y-B showed relatively high antioxidant activity.13 tested strains were screened by the vegetative compatibility test to find the fusion strains with vigorous and robust mycelial growth and strong sclerotium production,while the field cultivation test showed that strains QL-Y25,QL-Y27,QL-Y28,QL-Y29 and QL-Y35 had better growth traits than other strains.To sum up,strains QL-Y27,QL-Y28 and QL-Y29 performed better than other strains,expected to achieve higher fruitbody yield in Yangling region,which can be further promoted.