Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Sing.) Breeding in China

Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Sing.) is widely cultivated in China, Japan, Korea and many other Asian countries. It is one of the most extensively grown and consumed edible fungi in the world, with an exceptional high agricultural yield. Taxonomically, L. edodes belongs to the phylum Basideomycotina and family Agaricaceae. It is broadly distributed in the wild, mainly in the subtropical to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Due to its excellent taste qualities, high nutritional value, and medicinal properties, L. edodes is of great importance for the food industry and has medicinal applications. Various active medical ingredients such as lentinan, lentin, lectin and eritadenin, have been isolated from L. edodes culture media, fruiting bodies or mycelium. Enzymes, such as laccase, produced by L. edodes, have potential for industrial applications related to paper production (biopulping), residue treatment and improvement in the digestibility of animal rations. Like for other edible fungi cultivation, the raw materials for shiitake mushroom cultivation mostly constitute agricultural waste such as sawdust, straw and cottonseed husk. Moreover, the waste from the shiitake mushroom cultivation itself can be further used as a bio-organic fertilizer, greatly contributing to the process of crop rotation. Due to the changing natural environment along with the continuous improvement of living standards, mushroom cultivation is facing constant challenges. In order to obtain shiitake mushroom strains adapted to different climatic conditions, different cultivation methods and processing practices, breeders continuously screen for new shiitake varieties implementing diverse methods. In this chapter, we present an overview of the origin, distribution, taxonomic position, genetic characteristics, cultivation patterns and history of shiitake mushroom breeding by traditional and modern breeding methods in China.