Sprouting suppression and mushroom production after inoculation of Juglans x intermedia stumps with edible fungi species

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Removal of stumps and suppression of sprouts after harvesting by conventional methods, such as using heavy machinery or herbicides, alters the physico-chemical characteristics of soil, may cause environmental damage and can be very costly. In this study, the performance of inoculation with edible fungi as a biological alternative for stump degradation, has been examined in walnut plantations of five Spanish provinces. Stumps were inoculated with two species of edible fungi: Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. Ex Fr.) P. Kumm and Lentinula edodes (Berk) Pené. Compared with untreated controls, the two biological treatments resulted in a significant and evident reduction of the sprouting probability, which was stronger than the result obtained with chemical treatments. Inoculated stumps also produced edible sporocarps, averaging 15.58 g per stump during the first year. This article constitutes the basis for the development of a sustainable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective product, which is a bioeconomy-based solution for stump degradation in intensive plantations.

This project has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 728086: Innovation Action ?Woodnat? (Second generation of planted hardwood forests in the EU). In addition, the authors thank to Bosques Naturales Company for allowing the use of their plantations, and their personnel for the support in the field data gathering, and to the Instituto para la Competitividad Empresarial of Castilla y León for the research grant ICE-IDI-2018-2011818860 from the Internship program in Research, Development and Innovation and internationalization. The authors would also like to thank Yolanda Alvarez (seconded MSCA fellow of RISE ?3D-NEONET? project, also financed by the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 734907) for her generous linguistic advice on the manuscript.

Peer reviewed