Dr. Renato G. Reyes, Vice President for Academic Affairs of Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and recipient of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) Regional Professional Chair, delivered a lecture on the recent advances of the Domestication and Mykopharming of Wild Edible Mushrooms in the Philippines held on March 6, 2023, at the Research and Extension Amphitheater, CLSU.
In his lecture, Dr. Reyes shared the story of their expedition and discovery of the various mushroom species found in the Philippines, including the kabuteng saging or "Volvariella volvacea", Ligninolytic mushrooms, kabuteng dimonyo or “Coprinus comatus, and Chinese mushrooms among others. |
Mr. Bismark E. Francisco, Science Research Assistant of Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development provided an online lecture on mushroom cultivation technologies to 47 military retirees from different regions of the country via the zoom conference on March 3, 2023.
Mr. Francisco highlighted the spawn and mushroom production of Pleurotus, the different factors in growing mushrooms, the required facilities, and the economic potential of mushroom production. |
Mr. Jerry G. Agbisit, popularly known as "Kabuterong Maharot" on social media, a solo parent from Brgy. Poblacion, Mayantoc, Tarlac, is in the spotlight as the first Mykosharer of The Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development "Mykoshare: Sharing technologies for sustainable and livable communities" held via Zoom on December 12, 2022, 5:00-7:20 PM. The Mykoshare was participated by the different mushroom growers, spawn producers, entrepreneurs, and research students.
Mr. Agbisit shared his expertise and experiences in growing Volvariella mushroom or kabuteng saging. He highlighted the different production technologies using different subtrates such as rice straw, rice stubbles, water hyacinth, mixed soil and riversand, corn stover, kangkong, decaying logs, and mushroom fruiting spent. He also revealed various supplements such as organic concoctions, fermented plant juice, vermicast, pasteurized manure, carton, carbonized rice hull, and their combinations, which are used as substrate additives. Mr. Agbisit also showed the different cultivation types for Volvariella fruiting body production. He also stressed the very high demand and low production of Volvariella in the Philippines, which needs special attention. Mr. Agbisit is truly a certified Volvariella mushroom grower and an environmental health advocate. |
Emily Asasira, an MS Biology student, volunteered as a research staff of the Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development to work on commercially cultivated mushrooms. According to her, she wants to be fully immersed in research since she will be working on mushrooms for her master's thesis. She also added, "I want to work with mushrooms because I want to establish a mushroom center at Bugema University in Uganda." Currently, Ms. Asasira is familiarizing herself with the basic techniques on the different aspects of mushroom cultivation, such as culture media preparation, tissue culture, grain spawn production, substrate preparation, fruiting spawn production, growing, and harvesting of friting bodies. She is under the supervision of Ms. Janice Aguilar, a CIP Fellow whose work focuses on mushroom science and bioprocessing.
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Dr. Renato G. Reyes, Dr. Sofronio P. Kalaw, and Dr. Rich Milton R. Dulay initiated the discussion on mushroom spawn production together with the 44 mushroom growers, spawn producers, and entrepreneurs from the different provinces in the country during the 2nd Techno-talakayan held via Zoom on November 10, 2022, 7:00-9:00 PM.
Mushroom growers shared their problems with the worm infestation, mites, and contamination. They also inquired about the effects of temperature, carbon and nitrogen ratio of the substrate, culture media for mycelial growth and yield, issues about biological efficiency, among others. CTMRD experts explained the effects of the different important factors on the production of mushrooms and also advised the growers to always maintain the cleanliness and sanitation in the mushroom laboratory and facilities. Experts also requested to send the samples of contaminated fruit bags to CTMRD in order to determine the cause of the problem. Indeed, this Techno-talakayan is a very good platform to provide the right direction for our mushroom stakeholders towards the progressive Philippine mushroom industry. |
Three research proposals of the Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development were approved for funding by the CLSU Academic Research Council. These research projects will focus on the biomass production and bioactivity evaluation of wild mushrooms, development of mushroom-based products, and development of low-cost preservation protocol. The notice to proceed of the said research projects was already received by the CTMRD proponents.
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Experts from the CLSU Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development, Dr. Renato G. Reyes, Dr. Sofronio P. Kalaw, and Dr. Rich Milton R. Dulay shared their expertise on science-based mushroom production during the Techno-talakayan held via Zoom on November 4, 2022, 7:00-9:30 PM. The said discussion was participated by selected mushroom growers, entrepreneurs, and processors from different regions of the country.
Mushroom growers presented the different problems encountered in mushroom production such as contamination, dieback, pest infestation, among others, to the mushroom experts. They also highlighted their developed mushroom production technologies and/or techniques for paddy straw mushroom and oyster mushroom. In response, CTMRD experts provided scientific explanations and recommendations in order to avoid the identified problems in the cultivation of mushrooms. Indeed, this Techno-talakayan is a very good platform to provide the right direction for our mushroom stakeholders towards the progressive Philippine mushroom industry. |
Researchers from the Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development presented oral and poster papers during the first CLSU Research Innovation and Development Festival held on October 11-12, 2022. Prof. Dr. Sofronio P. Kalaw discussed their paper entitled “Ethno-mykology, Ethno-mycophagy and Myko-pharming of Wild Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms”, while Ms. Kathlene Claire O. Ganareal, Science Research Specialist, presented their project on Development of Mushroom-Based Functional Foods. Both projects were funded by the DOST - Philippine Council for Health Research and Development. Meanwhile, Ms. Janice Aguilar, Senior Science Research Specialist (DOST – Career Incentive Program Fellow), shared their findings from the two projects entitled “Development of Low-cost Preservation Protocol for Native and Exotic Mushrooms” and “Optimization of Liquid Culture Conditions and Bioactivity Profiling of Wild Philippine Mushrooms”, which were both funded by the Academic Research Council of CLSU.
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Professor Dr. Reyes, the current Vice President for Academic Affairs and the concurrent Director of the International Affairs Office, is currently hosted at the Tokyo University of Agriculture as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) BRIDGE Fellowship Program.
He will conduct a research on Collybia reinakeana and will deliver lectures on the recent advances in mushroom pharming during his fellowship. His fellowship is a homecoming as he finished his Ph.D. in Forest Science at the same university in 1999 and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in 2000 with funding from the JSPS. He previously held postdoctoral fellowships at the German Research Center for Biotechnology (GBF) and the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany (2005), Takasaki University of Health and Welfare in Japan (2009), and Michigan State University in USA (2012). |