title: Vacuum-soaking of wood chip shiitake (Lentinula edodes) logs to reduce soak time and log weight variability and to stimulate mushroom yield.
abstract: Synthetic logs were vacuum-soaked or regular-soaked to determine the effects of soaking on yield and mushroom size, log weight variability and water distribution within the log. Yields (g/log) from substrates vacuum-soaked were higher by 26.7%, 18.6% and 35.8% (mean = 27.2%) for crops I, II and III, respectively, when compared with regular-soaked. However, mushroom size averaged only 11.2 g for vacuum-soaked logs vs 17 g for regular-soaked logs (51.8% larger for regular-soaked). The time required for vacuum-soaking logs was generally less than 3 min, compared with regular-soaking times ranging over 3-15 h. Water tended to accumulate more in the outside zone in the vacuum-soaked logs, compared with regular-soaked logs. Mean moisture contents for crops I and II for outside, middle and interior zones of vacuum-soaked logs were 66%, 47.5% and 42.2%, respectively, while regular-soaked logs for the same zones were 62.4%, 52.1% and 50.9%, respectively. Vacuum-soaked log weights had lower standard deviations than weights for regular-soaked logs in four out of six soaks, indicating a more uniform soaking process.
authors.affiliation: Mushroom Research Center, Department of Plant Pathology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA. djr4@psu.edu
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Royse
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sanchez
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development*; D019649:Food Industry / Q000379:methods*; D020942:Shiitake Mushrooms / Q000254:growth & development*; D014618:Vacuum; D014867:Water; D014934:Wood
chemical_list: D014867:Water