Magical mushroom: Scaling up Ganoderma lucidum cultivation

Context

Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom in use for centuries to heal diseases like diabetes, cancer, inflammation, ulcer as well as bacterial and skin infections.

About

About Ganoderma lucidum:

The mushroom is shiny red-brown in colour and naturally grows on wood.
It prefers broad-leaved tree species like acacia, poplar, oak, maple, melia, eucalyptus, hevea, tectona and grewia.
The lower surface of this mushroom is porous, pale white in colour and produces red spores on maturity.
It thrives well in warm and humid climates, and grows preferably in mixed forests of sub-tropical to temperate regions.
It is considered one of the most important medicinal mushrooms in the world since its chemical constituents exhibit numerous medicinal properties.
They have earned it monikers such as “mushroom of immortality”, “celestial herb” and “auspicious herb”.
It is globally also known as “red reishi mushroom”.
The history of consumption of this mushroom can be traced back to 5,000 years ago in China.
It also finds mention in the historical and medical records of countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and India.
Ganoderma contains more than 400 chemical constituents, including triterpenes, polysaccharides, nucleotides, alkaloids, steroids, amino acids, fatty acids and phenols.
These show medicinal properties such as immunomodulatory, anti-hepatitis, anti-tumour, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-HIV, antimalarial, hypoglycaemic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Unlike normal mushrooms, the peculiar character of this one is that it grows on wood or wood-based substrate only.
Ganoderma lucidum is also used as a base material for manufacturing products such as tea, coffee, energy supplements, health boosters, beverages, baked goods and anti-ageing cosmetics.