New strains in cultivated edible specialty mushrooms: PSCH-35 (Pleurotus sajor-caju) and DMRO-356 (Lentinula edodes)

With systematic breeding efforts, ICAR-Directorate of Mushroom Research has recently released two new strains in specialty mushrooms viz., PSCH-35 in oyster mushroom ( Pleurotus sajor-caju ) and DMRO-356 in shiitake mushroom ( Lentinula edodes ). The variety PSCH-35 was developed by crossing of two strains DMRP-255 and DMRP-112. It has a yield potential of 56-60 % of fresh mushroom production per 100 kg of dry substrate with soft textured fruit-bodies. DMRO-356 of shiitake mushroom was developed from the parent material introduced from the Mycelia, Belgium through a systematic selection procedure. DMRO-356 is having a yield potential of 46-48 kg of fresh mushroom production per 100 kg of dry substrate with a moderately thick flesh character. Both the strains were evaluated at AICRPM centers located at different states and released after recommendation by the AICRP committee. This paper describes the detailed and distinguishing characteristics of both the varieties along with their yield performance in repeated evaluation trials.