Development of a highly productive strain of Pleurotus tuoliensis for commercial cultivation by crossbreeding

Abstract Pleurotus tuoliensis , commonly called Bailinggu, is a precious edible mushroom with high nutritional and economic value. However, its low yield, long cultivation period, and non-uniformity of fruiting bodies limit its commercial cultivation. In this study, twenty-five strains were obtained by crossbreeding monokaryotic strains derived from JZB2106012 and JZB2106013, and their genetic and phenotypic characteristics were evaluated. Among these crossbred strains and parental strains, the new hybrid strain C4 displayed the highest biological efficiency, i.e., 67.56%. In addition, C4 showed 90% uniformity of fruiting bodies and had a cultivation period of 92 days, which was two days and thirteen days shorter than those of the parental strains. C4 also had higher hardness, an indicator of quality or shelf life, than the parental strains. C4 was characterized by antagonism tests and inter-simple sequence repeat molecular markers. Genetic differences were observed among parental and crossbred strains. Therefore, the newly developed hybrid strain C4, having a high yield and desirable agronomic traits, might be suitable for commercial cultivation.