In June, the Morchella species selected by Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences have been proved to be a primary success at the 3530-meter-altitude  Morchella Cultivation Base of Banma-Guoluo Cultivation Base.

The Morchella strains for this selection at the BanMa-Guoluo cultivation base are supported by the Shanghai Agriculture Applied Technology Development Program titled as ”Breeding stable production strains of rare and medicinal edible fungi Morchella and the establishment of molecular-assisted breeding system”. Based on the fruiting body obtained in autumn in Shanghai, the research program members went to the Guoluo plateau of Qinghai province for cultivation and re-screening, and they ultimately obtained the high yield and excellent Morchella strains.

At the beginning of 2022, the research team selected five Morchella strains which have obvious trait advantages and further made cultivation strains for these five strains. The team overcame the challenges brought by the COVID-19 epidemic,successfully  delivered the cultivated strains of Morchella to the cultivation base of Banma County, Guoluo State in mid-March, and finally completed seeding works in early April.

In the early stage of cultivation and management, as the program members could not go to the cultivation base due to the COVID-19 epidemic situation, they implemented remote guidance and management, paid close attention to the growth of five Morchella strains, and guided the cultivation base technicians to urge fruiting body and other operations.

In early June 2022, Morchella babies (primordia) have arrived as promised. The management is of great importance during the period from primordium to mature fruiting body. Hence, associate researcher Chen Hui and associate researcher Tang Lihua, putting up with the inconvenience brought by the required quarantine at that time, went to the cultivation base to guide the fruiting body management of Morchella strain. Under their careful guidance, the fruit bodies of five Morchella strains were growing well, and the highest yield of the tested strains has exceeded 300kg/mu.

The significance of their work is not only the successful selection of the Morchella strains suitable for the local climate cultivation in Guoluo Banma, but also the accelerated accumulation of technical parameters of the cultivation and management of Morchella. Their work has laid the foundation for the establishment of Morchella breeding platform for cultivating and screening several times a year, and could further provide technical support for the development of characteristic Morchella industry.